






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 


Cliap, Copyright No. 


Shelf. 




UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



















A CHILD OF GLEE 


Books for Children 

BY 

The Author of Dear Daughter Dorothy'' 

Dear Daughter Dorothy 
Dorothy and Anton 
Betty, a Butterfly 
The Little Sister of Wilifred 
Robin’s Recruit 

Penelope Prig, and Other Stories 
The Black Dog, and Other Stories 
Wanolasset, “ The-Little-One-who-Laughs ” 
Rags and Velvet Gowns 
A Bud of Promise 
A Flower of the Wilderness 
A Child of Glee 








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‘“I AM NOT THE QUEEN OF AVARIL.’” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 

And H ow She Saved 
the Queen 


By 

A. G. PLYMPTON 

AUTHOR OF “DEAR DAUGHTER DOROTHY,” “BETTY, A BUTTERFLY, 
“ A FLOWER OF THE WILDERNESS,” ETC. 


Illustrated by 
HARRY C. EDWARDS 


BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY 


1900 


880G7 


L»br«, y erf Go»»v— • 

■’Wu (\.'PiCS WtarvfO 

AUG 24 1900 

Copyright ««try 


SECOND copy. 

0«<«ver6d to 

0«0£R DIVISION, 

SEP 6 1900 




C>- 






Copyright, 1900 
By a. G. Plympton 


All Rights Reserved. 

74:282 



Typography and Presswork 
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A. 




I llustrations 


FROM DRAWINGS BY HARRY C. EDWARDS 


“ ‘ I am not the Queen of Avaril ... Frontispiece ^ 
“ ‘ The cry of “ Long live the Queen ! ” rang 

through the streets of Marll’”. . . . Facing page 

“With one frantic effort he snapped the 

leash ” “ “65 

“ ‘ Hush ! ’ whispered Margaretta. ‘ Is not 

some one coming?’” “ “ 94 

“ ‘ Beware, beware of St. Margaret’s Day, 

your day of birth!”’ “ “ 180 

“ ‘ Quick I ’ she said. ‘ They are government 

troops in search of Your Grace’” . . “ “ 260 








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A Child of Glee 


CHAPTER I 

T hey had been travelling from London 

to in the same railway carriage, and 

the unsociable-man-in-the-corner had hardly 
taken his eyes from Marjorie all the way. As 
to that, few persons could help watching Mar- 
jorie when she was in the mood to make merry, 
for at such times she was a most diverting little 
person. She had such droll ways, such a zest 
in life, such a sense of the ludicrous and such 
good humor as made her the ideal travelling 
companion. Hers was an exceedingly sociable 
disposition, and the trustful advances she made 
to high and low alike were no more to be re- 
pulsed than those of some dear friendly dog- 
gie. She was clever, too, in her way, could 


2 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


sing, dance, recite, and as she had lived in 
many different countries was, for a child, no 
mean linguist. But had she spoken no lan- 
guage save her own, she could make herself 
understood anywhere by pantomime, for which 
she had a marvellous gift, and this she used 
with such drollery, such grace, such self-uncon- 
sciousness that she was simply irresistible. 
The play of her face, the quick motions of 
her hands, the expressiveness of her whole 
body made her, as was often said, a whole the- 
atrical entertainment in herself. To mimic 
was as natural to her as to breathe, and fortu- 
nate it was that her heart was so warm and 
her imagination so quick to divine the feelings 
of others, or she would have dealt many a 
cruel wound in this way. Droll as her mim- 
icry was, she was never so funny as when 
mimicking herself, which she often did, but 
the fun in this case was in her total want of 
success. 

Marjorie had a passion for travel, and as 
the train started her spirits rose, getting higher 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


3 


and higher with each mile. Never for a mo- 
ment was she at a loss for amusement, for when 
the varied scenery visible from the car-win- 
dow began to pall, and when she was con- 
vinced that her father wished to read his 
papers and that their fellow-traveller did not 
care to be sociable, she proved to be abun- 
dantly able to entertain herself. First she con- 
structed out of her pocket-handkerchief two 
figures which she called Fraulein Schmidt and 
Mademoiselle Fran9ois, and carried on a dia- 
logue between them in broken English, the 
German lady’s English and the English of the 
French lady being perfectly distinct. The dia- 
logue began in a lively squabble by these 
imaginary ladies over their seats in the rail- 
way carriage, and ended in absurd sentimen- 
tal expressions of friendship and regard. 

Just at the last moment before the train 
started in London, an old lady had arrived, 
and before taking her seat in the car had, to 
the great amusement of the bystanders, in- 
sisted upon giving minute instructions upon 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


4 

the care of a pet poodle to a person evidently 
to be left in charge. When tired of Fraulein 
Schmidt and her French friend, Marjorie sud- 
denly assumed the very look of this old lady ; 
by some miracle, too,' her voice had the same 
anxious wheeziness in it, and so perfectly she 
impersonated her that the unsociable-man-in- 
the-corner almost laughed outright, only sav- 
ing himself by a violent fit of coughing. 

The man-in-the-corner, together with Mar- 
jorie and her father, were the sole occupants of 
the railway carriage. When the train reached 

, the latter brought Marjorie a sandwich 

and a cup of cambric tea. At the appearance 
of the tea the anxious old lady disappeared, 
and in her place was a brisk, breezy person, 
who sat erect and looked about her with bright 
and snapping eyes, as different as possible from 
the dull, heavy-lidded ones of the other. 

“Well, I declare, Mr. Westbrook, if you 
ain’t thoughtful,” she said, holding out her 
hand for the cup; “that tea is just what I ’ve 
been cravin’.” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


5 


“ Will you have a sandwich, Mis’ Pond ? ” 
asked the father, evidently at once recogniz- 
ing the subject of Marjorie’s mimicry. 

“Well, I dunno but what I will.” 

She began to sip the tea in a deliberate way, 
as if it were too great an enjoyment to be hur- 
ried, the very embodiment of a New England 
countrywoman, and unspeakably funny to one 
familiar with the type. 

“ It ’s been on my mind for quite a spell,” she 
said, as she surveyed the sandwich, “ that I ’d 
ought git off at these railway stations an’ give 
the folks an idee of how bread should be made. 
I reckon their trouble is with the raisin’.” 

“ Well, there ’s not time to get off at this 
one, for the train is just about to move on,” 
continued the gentleman addressed, holding 
out his hand for the plate and the teacup, cut- 
ting this little comedy short. 

Accordingly, Marjorie took the rest of the 
tea at a swallow, finished her sandwich “ like a 
boy coming home hungry from school,” and 
professed herself quite refreshed. 


6 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


When Mr. Westbrook returned to his place 
in the carriage, he folded up his newspapers 
and turned to his daughter and comrade. 

The man-in-the-corner, with his head against 
the cushion, his hat over his eyes, was appar- 
ently fast asleep, placing therefore no check 
upon their merriment. So they pleased them- 
selves with tales and talk seasoned with many 
a jest, and Marjorie sang. She had a free, 
boyish voice that now and then had a note 
in it which went to the heart, and this it was 
perhaps that finally melted the reserve of the 
man-in-the-corner, for just as she finished he 
suddenly leaned toward her and said : — 

“ Mademoiselle goes to Avaril to witness the 
coronation of the little queen. Is it not so ? ” 

“ Truly, monsieur,” she answered ; “ for what 
else would one possibly go to Avaril ? Do you 
not go there for the same reason ? ” 

Her father laid his hand upon her arm with 
a warning pressure, and turned to the man-in- 
the-corner with a glance that begged indul- 
gence for his daughter’s curiosity. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 7 

“ The little mademoiselle is quite right. I 
also go to witness the coronation of the queen,” 
he answered, but not without a slight hesita- 
tion that they afterwards remembered. “ It 
will be well worth the trip, no doubt.” 

“ Yes, it will be a fine show for a little 
Yankee to see. We are Americans, mon- 
sieur,” Mr. Westbrook explained, somewhat 
unnecessarily, “ and my daughter has a pro- 
found interest in royal personages; above all 
in this child-queen of Avaril who is to be 
crowned to-morrow.” 

“ But, yes, crowned at the age of ten,” said 
the man-in-the-corner. 

“ Ten years, eleven months and three days,” 
murmured the little American, adding : “ The 
queen’s birthday, monsieur, is the same as my 
own, and what is very odd is the fact that we 
have the same name as well.” 

“ Then my charming young travelling com- 
panion is ‘ Margaretta Christina Alexandre 
Beatrice of Avaril and the High Provinces.’ ” 

The little American made a slight grimace. 


8 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


which was charming, though by no means 
queenly. 

“ Your young travelling companion, mon- 
sieur, is Marjorie Westbrook, of Biddeford, 
Maine, United States, you know.” She 
laughed, looked at him out of the corners of 
her eyes, as if to see how her confession would 
affect him, and added : “I’m called Peg at 
home.” 

“ Did no one ever tell you, mademoiselle, 
that there is a striking resemblance between 
you and the little queen of Avaril } ” said the 
man-in-the-corner. 

The expressive face of Miss Westbrook, of 
Biddeford, betrayed the little girl’s pleasure. 

“ Why, yes, monsieur,” she answered ; “ it 
was but this very morning that papa showed 
me a likeness of Queen Margaretta that he 
said might have been taken for his precious 
Peg. Here it is.” 

She passed him a newspaper with a descrip- 
tion of the little queen, and of the grand and 
impressive ceremonies with which she was to 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


9 


be crowned. At the top of the sheet was the 
portrait to which Marjorie alluded, — the por- 
trait of a little girl with wistful eyes and a 
mouth that bespoke in its quiet lines a power 
of affection and a need to be beloved. It 
was but a common newspaper cut, but it 
gave much of the simple dignity and loveli- 
ness of her who was to be crowned the day 
following. 

“ Saprimento,” cried the man-in-the-corner, 
turning to Mr. Westbrook. “Your daughter 
has a most marvellous gift of expression. Yet 
there is much real resemblance between her 
and the young queen, shape of face, and feat- 
ures and color, all so much alike that when 
mademoiselle here becomes serious, the like- 
ness is complete.” 

Marjorie leaned back in her place with bliss- 
ful content, gazing in silence at the scenes 
through which the train swiftly passed. But 
after a few moments’ silence, and as if he 
were impelled to speak, the man-in-the-corner 
aofain leaned forward and addressed her. 

O 


lO 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ Mademoiselle,” he said, “ would you like 
to stand in the place of Margaretta to-morrow ? 
Would you like to wear a crown ? ” 

Marjorie turned her head and nodded. 

“ Like to wear a crown ? ” she repeated. 
“ Well, I should say so. Papa often tells me 
that every American woman is a queen, and 
every American child is a prince or a princess, 
but, dear me, what is it to be a princess of 
Biddefordl A princess without any power or 
any crown, or coronations or anything that ’s 
lovely and romantic. Why, monsieur, I have 
to travel over a thousand miles even to see a 
king or queen.” 

“ But you have a potentate of some kind in 
your country, — a president, for instance.” 

“ Oh, yes,” answered Marjorie, “ an ugly lit- 
tle man in ugly black clothes, without any 
throne to sit on, and nobody minds about him 
very much, because in four years he goes out 
and somebody else is ‘It’ ” 

“ Usually a very estimable person, however,” 
said Mr. Westbrook, laughing, “ who repre- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


II 


sents our good old Uncle Sam. But my 
daughter is not patriotic. She thinks Uncle 
Sam is not handsome, and his lean wrists and 
ankles offend her.” 

“ Papa is always laughing at me because I 
like kings and palaces, and all that, better than 
a lot of presidents and ugly town halls, and 
mobs of people, who get red and thump their 
fists down on the table when they talk politics, 
and who won’t be called subjects.” 

“ But,” said the stranger, smiling at her, 
“ crowns are cumbersome ornaments, corona- 
tions mere shows, subjects sometimes plot 
treason, and power, that you spoke of just now 
as synonymous with kings and queens — 
poof ! ” The young man (by this time they 
saw he was young) made a graceful motion 
with his fingers in the air as of vanishing 
smoke. “ Queen Margaretta’s throne may 
crumble into dust any day, mademoiselle.” 

Marjorie turned from the man-in-the-corner 
and looked out again upon the landscape. 
She was dreadfully troubled, and the tears 


12 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


sprang to her eyes in a sudden pity for this 
young queen, whose future was so uncertain. 
But in a moment she reassured herself. 

“ Oh, monsieur,” she said, “ I feel sure you 
are wrong. Who would plot against a poor 
little queen, only ten years, eleven months and 
three days ? Every good, brave man in 
Avaril will defend her against her wicked 
enemies.” 

“ My daughter is much distressed at the 
stories one hears of the trouble ahead for the 
child-queen in the pretensions of Duke Otto,” 
said Mr. Westbrook. “ What do you think 
of the situation, monsieur?” 

“ A strong man is needed upon the throne 
of Avaril, and many feel that the prosperity 
of the country justifies them in espousing the 
cause of the duke.” The man-in-the-corner 
paused a moment and then added, with a sigh : 
“ For myself, I would willingly leave the 
crown of Avaril upon the baby-brows ’twill 
encircle to-morrow.” 

A sudden frown fell over the dark eyes of 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


13 


the young man. He looked with an absent 
air out of the car-window, drumming with 
nervous fingers upon the casing. Presently, 
however, he looked again at the sparkling 
face of the little American. 

“ Dignity is a tiresome part to play, and by 
no means your role, my little marionette,” he 
said. “ Take my word for it, you would be 
bored to death in a week on a throne.” 

“Just what I tell her,” said the father, look- 
ing at her bright face with that parental par- 
tiality which is a wise provision of Nature 
whereby the most uninteresting child is re- 
garded by one pair of eyes at least with 
admiration. “ Marjorie is made for comedy. 
She is a child of glee.” 


CHAPTER II 


OU see, I never enjoyed fairy-stories as 



1 other children do, because of my Aunt 
Belinda,” Marjorie explained to the now-very- 
sociable-man-in-the-corner. “ It was not papa’s 
fault,” she went on, with an indulgent look at 
her parent, who was watching her out of laugh- 
ing, half-closed black eyes. “ He often used to 
beg her to leave me my — what were those 
things, papa, that you used to beg Aunt Belinda 
to leave me.^ Yes, illusions, that’s it. But 
there ’s nothing Aunt Belinda despises as much 
as she does illusions. Santa Claus is an illusion, 
and so is William Tell, and the Pied Piper of 
Hamelin, and jolly Robin Hood, and she spoiled 
my pleasure in them all, because you know you 
must have (even if you won’t own it) some 
scrap of a belief when you read of such things 
to enjoy them. And so I came to believe 
that any tale that was pretty and romantic 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


15 


could not be true. But one day, monsieur, 
she was reading to me out of the history 
of England. It was about the little princes 
that were killed in the Tower: how their cruel 
Uncle Richard, pretending that the palace 
was n’t safe, had the princes brought there, and 
then sent the Archbishop of Canterbury to 
Westminster Abbey, where the queen-mother 
had fled with her children for safety, to get the 
second son also; for if he should put both 
these little princes to death, he himself would 
be king of England. And the archbishop 
found the queen sitting upon the rushes, with 
her long fair hair streaming about her, and he 
took the boy away. Oh dear, oh dear! how 
sad was the poor queen’s parting from the 
little prince ! 

“ ‘ Farewell, mine own sweet son,’ ” moaned 
Marjorie in the words of the unfortunate 
queen, assuming all at once an aspect of sor- 
row. “ ‘ Farewell, mine own sweet son. God 
send you good keeping ! Let me kiss you once 
ere you go, for God knoweth when we shall 
kiss together again.’ 


i6 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ So then the second prince also is taken to 
the Tower,” continued Marjorie in her own 
proper voice, and with all the gusto of the born 
story teller, “ and there both of the poor boys 
were murdered by that bad, bad Richard, and 
their bones were found under a staircase at the 
Tower in London, two hundred years after- 
wards. 

“ When my Aunt Belinda had finished the 
story, I was crying to break my heart. 

“ ‘ Is it not as interesting as any fairy tale ? ’ 
she asked me, and I was forced to admit that 
it was. 

“Yet, fancy the disgust of my wise aunt, 
monsieur, when I added, ‘ But you know there 
are nt any queens and princes nowadays, any 
more than there are fairies.’ 

“ If I were such a little simpleton, I am sure 
it was her fault. 

“ Well, now I began to be dreadfully inter- 
ested in history. I read every one in the old 
secretary at Westbrook Farm. Read them, did 
I say.^^ I learned them by heart, poring over 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


17 


them so much. And, dear me, how pleased I 
was that kings and queens and princesses are 
really-truly persons, though of course there 
was no more chance of seeing one in Bidde- 
ford than of seeing a fairy. It was not so 
long after this, however, when papa and I came 
over here, and I have seen nearly all there are 
in Europe.” 

“ And do you find them so very different 
from the rest of us 1 ” asked the man-in-the- 
corner, with much interest. 

“Well, no,” she admitted rather reluctantly. 
The similarity between royalty and the com- 
mon herd must some time have forcibly im- 
pressed her, for presently she added in a 
confidential tone : “ Do you know there is a 
little old lady in Biddeford who is as much like 
Queen Victoria as she can be 1 Of course she 
is not surrounded by — by — ” 

“ Pomp and circumstance,” suggested Mr. 
Westbrook. 

“ No, she is not surrounded by pomp and 
circumstance at all ; she keeps a little thread- 


i8 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


and-needle shop, but she is a real lady for all 
that. Of course she has n’t any court or any 
throne, or fine toilettes and ladies-in-waiting; 
but anyhow she is every bit as dumpy, and her 
cheeks flop in just the same way. Why, I Ve 
seen princes, lots and lots of them, with not 
nearly so grand an air as either you or my 
papa have. In fact, I Ve often thought that 
papa would look uncommonly well on a throne, 
in an ermine cape, you know, and big crown 
on his head. It’s a sad pity that he should 
have been born to an ulster and a derby hat, 
instead.” 

Her companions laughed at this sally, and 
Marjorie wound up her long argument at last 
by saying : — 

“ And so, monsieur, you see how I come to 
be so interested in royal persons. They take 
the place of fairies to me.” 

“ Some of them are not very fairy-like,” pro- 
tested the man-in-the-corner ; “ for instance, that 
Richard of whom you spoke just now, — unless 
it be a malevolent fairy,” he added. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


19 


“ Yes,” Marjorie assented, “ he was what papa 
calls an out-and-out bad ’un ; but in a story 
a downright wicked person is more interest- 
ing than a half-and-halfer, they do go ahead 
so. There was Henry the Eighth, too. Was n’t 
he a case ? He often reminds me of Aunt 
Belinda.” 

“ Good, heavens ! ” cried her father, aghast; 
“ what a blood-thirsty character to give your 
aunt.” 

“ I don’t mean she beheads people,” Marjorie 
assured the man-in-the-corner, “ but she has 
just Henry’s way of pushing things through. 
Charles the First is my favorite king, and I 
don’t think any of the wicked ones so wicked 
as Oliver Cromwell. I despise above all things 
a person who schemes to get another person 
off his rightful throne and then gets on it 
himself.” 

“ Truly it does give one an unamiable air, 
but perhaps he acted solely for the good of his 
country. Those were perilous times, and a 
resolute man alone could deliver England from 
the tyranny of the Stuarts.” 


20 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ You ought to know Aunt Belinda, mon- 
sieur,” cried Marjorie. “ You would get on so 
well together, you two. She is always talking 
about the rights of the people and that sort of 
thing. Do you know any ladies from Bidde- 
ford, monsieur ? ” 

Here Mr. Westbrook broke upon Marjorie’s 
chatter with a great laugh, but the man-in-the- 
corner exclaimed : — 

“ Ah me, little mademoiselle, but once, cross- 
ing the English Channel, I did meet with the 
most charming lady from that very place. Her 
name I know not, alas ! ” 

Immediately he became silent, as if lost in 
some pleasing recollection. The hat which 
long before he had pushed up from over his 
eyes was now removed altogether, and he 
leaned back with his eyes cast up to the ceiling 
of the railway carriage, as if he saw the lady 
from Biddeford there. It sounds foolish, but 
he really looked extremely handsome. Having 
for a moment regarded him with attention, 
Marjorie broke out : — 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


21 


“ Oh, monsieur, you say that I resemble the 
little Queen of Avaril ; and I have just discov- 
ered that you look very much like papa.” 

The man-in-the-corner instantly put on his 
hat. He looked confused, and Mr. Westbrook 
said : — 

“ The resemblance goes no further, I think, 
than size, complexion and style of wearing 
one’s moustache. My daughter has a talent 
for finding resemblances.” 

“ Yes, but even without my talent,” said Mar- 
jorie, innocently, “ anybody would find this 
one.” 

“ I shall take your word for it,” said the 
young man, recovering his composure. “ Your 
daughter is a very well instructed person,” he 
added, turning to Mr. Westbrook. “ I shall 
accept her conclusions. She has a vast fund 
of information.” 

Marjorie laughed. “ I must tell what you 
say to Aunt Belinda, for she says that my edu- 
cation has been shamefully neglected. She 
was so worried about it that she has come 


22 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


over here (she is in Paris now) to take me 
home to school. She says that I do n’t know 
anything but a few scraps of history and 
three languages, and that it ’s all very well 
now, but that when I ’m older papa will be 
ashamed of me. If papa were to be ashamed 
of me,” cried Marjorie, with a sudden drop in 
her voice and slipping her fingers into her 
father’s hand, “ I should n’t wish to live any 
more, so I ’m going back with her. Before we 
sail, as a last treat, papa is taking me to 
see the coronation of Margaretta. Then it ’s 
good-bye to all that’s delightful, and behold 
me, monsieur, in Biddeford, with piles of 
books before me, an anxious frown on my 
forehead, and very likely an ache inside of it. 
Also an ambition satisfied with nothing short 
of an average of ninety-eight per cent.” 

“ An average of ninety-eight per cent,” re- 
peated the man-in-the-corner, vaguely. 

“Yes, on lessons, you know. I may even 
become a learned person, for that is what 
Aunt Belinda wants, and Aunt Belinda always 


A CHILD OF GLEE 23 

has what she sets out for. I do n’t want to be 
a learned person at all, for I have always so 
much enjoyed being foolish and saying just 
what comes into my mind, whether it ’s sensi- 
ble or silly. But at all events,” said Marjorie, 
brightening again after the momentary gloom, 
“ I am going to see the little queen crowned 
at Avaril. That will be something to re- 
member.” 

It was growing late. A dazzling sun was 
setting behind a range of hills, grandly beau- 
tiful in the misty tyrian purple tints of sunset. 
The green of the fields through which the 
train was speeding grew dusky, and still some 
hours must elapse before they would reach 
Marll, the capital of Avaril, where the cere- 
mony of coronation was to take place. 

Tired of her own chatter, Marjorie leaned 
her head against her father’s shoulder and lis- 
tened, until she fell asleep, to the conversation 
of her two companions. 

The man-in-the-corner was interested in 
America, and took advantage of this oppor- 
tunity to inform himself concerning it. 


24 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“Yours is a grand country,” he said at last. 
“ I would well like to visit it and see the 
wonders of its wild scenery, its great rivers 
and cataracts, its vast plains and forests. The 
descriptions I have read of Colorado, with 
the Garden of the Gods, so sublime, so tre- 
mendously imposing with its massive, natural 
spires and monuments, in particular, fasci- 
nated me. It must lead the mind back 
to shadowy, mythical ages, when the great 
Northern gods were supposed to play with 
the forces of nature and might here have built 
temples for themselves. I suppose you have 
seen these grotesque formations ? ” 

“ Well, no,” answered Mr. Westbrook, mov- 
ing a little uneasily in his seat. “To tell the 
truth, I have travelled very little in my own 
country.” 

“ And then,” continued the young man, “ I 
would wish to see the great petrified forest, 
which covers, it is said, one hundred square 
miles. A friend of mine who has travelled 
in America tells me that it is the most won- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


25 


derful spectacle that he has ever beheld. He 
describes it as a very garden of rainbows. 
Some of the fallen trees or logs are perfectly 
transluscent, some transparent, or almost so, 
petrified to the core, and three or four feet 
in diameter. They show the most lovely 
shades of pink, purple, red, gray, blue and 
yellow. Some are pure amethyst, some like 
a topaz, while others are as white as marble. 
But pardon, monsieur; no doubt I weary you 
by a second-hand description of what you 
have had the pleasure of seeing with your 
own eyes.” 

“Well, no,” Mr. Westbrook was forced to 
answer a second time. “ I have never been as 
far west as Arizona.” 

“ Let ’s go some time, papa,” murmured Mar- 
jorie, half awake. “ I never heard of any 
such place before.” 

“ I am sure ’t will be better worth seeing, 
little mademoiselle, than those royal person- 
ages that accident has placed upon thrones, 
and but remind you of humble persons you 
have left at home. 


26 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ Ah,” said the young man, “ my great pas- 
sion is for travel. Nature planned me, mon- 
sieur, for an explorer. I love adventure, a free 
life with a spice of danger in it, and she has 
dropped me into a pint pot. Bah, that is Nat- 
ure’s way. After all her experience, she is 
still trying to fit square pegs into round holes. 
She bids her troubadour to sit quiet on a 
throne, and she says to the king she has 
made, ‘ Go forth, man, and sing and dance to 
amuse the people.’ What do you make of 
it?” 

Mr. Westbrook shrugged his shoulders, an- 
swering : — 

“ Perhaps because the king needs to learn 
something beside kingcraft, and the trouba- 
dour, beside singing. But ’t is easy for me 
to philosophize, for Nature has made no mis- 
take in my case.” 

“ You are to be envied above mortals,” said 
the young man, with a sigh, as he took up 
his book, which was, as Mr. Westbrook saw, 
“ Through the Dark Continent.” For some 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


27 


time his companion watched the eager interest, 
which grew with the perusal, upon his hand- 
some face. Then, drowsy with the monotonous 
clacking of the cars, Marjorie’s papa joined her 
in the Land of Nod. 

They slept the sound sleep of health and 
a good conscience, undisturbed even by the 

guard who came to the carriage at 

with a telegram for the man-in-the-corner. 

This dispatch, whatever its import, put an 
end to his reading. He shut up his book, sat 
upright, staring into the darkness of the night, 
as if he expected to find there an answer to 
the question his necessities were urging upon 
him. In truth, the message he had just re- 
ceived had been one of warning, making some 
step on his part imperative. Search as he 
might, there was but one way by which 
he could save himself from the threatened 
danger. 

He looked at his watch. It was eight 
o’clock. In half an hour they would arrive 
at Foss, the last stop before Marll. He must 


28 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


decide before reaching Foss. At last when 
the train began to slow up, he took a card and 
some papers from his pocket, and with an 
attentive look at Marjorie and her father, 
slipped them into the pocket of Mr. West- 
brook’s overcoat as it lay on the seat beside 
him. 

Neither of the two sleepers stirred. 

He jammed his hat down over his eyes, 
put on his own overcoat, and when the train 
stopped, left the car. 

His heart perhaps smote him for what he 
had done, but he shrugged his shoulders, with 
the assurance that he would be able to pre- 
vent any serious trouble, in consequence, be- 
falling this gay pair. 


CHAPTER III 



HEN Marjorie awoke, the twinkling 


V V lights of the gay capital of Avaril were 
to be seen from the car-window, and her father 
was already gathering together their bags and 
travelling shawls preparatory to leaving the 


train. 


“ Come, wake up, Peg, we are almost there, 
at Marll, you know, where you are to see the 
queen crowned,” he said, encouragingly. 

“ I do n’t want to see her crowned. I want 
to go to bed,” murmured the ungrateful Mar- 
jorie, who was heavy with sleep, but immedi- 
ately the stupor passed off, and she looked 
out of the car-window at the distant lights 
with all her wonted interest. 

“ Yes, papa, this must be Marll,” she said, 
delightedly. “ How bright the lights are, and 
see, there are rockets. They are beginning 
already to crown the queen. But, dear me,” 


30 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


she interrupted herself, . “ where 's the man-in- 
the-corner ? ” 

“ Probably got out at Foss.” 

“ Well, I ’m sorry. After the first, I thought 
he was very nice, and I was in hopes that we 
should see him to-morrow. I thought he was 
going to Marll. Seems to me he said so, 
papa.” 

“Well, my dear, I had that impression, but 
I ca n’t be sure. As a rule, strangers are not 
so communicative as you are. Your Aunt 
Belinda would have been horrified if she had 
heard you chatter to this gentleman. Luckily 
I have no secrets or you would give me 
away.” 

This assertion much distressed Marjorie, 
who answered it with warmth. 

“ Do you think I am so mean and stupid as 
that ? I did n’t suppose that a person’s des- 
tination was much of a secret, for even if you 
had no chattering daughter the guard would 
find it out.” 

Mr. Westbrook laughed. He shook Mar- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 3 1 

jorie into her coat, kissed her round cheek, and 
said, soothingly : — 

“ It was a joke. Peg. I know if I had a 
secret wild horses would not drag it out of 
you. But all the same, it ’s a deal more com- 
fortable not to have any.” 

On reaching the station at Marll, Mr. West- 
brook jumped out 'of the car, and Marjorie, with 
wide bright eyes and pink cheeks, followed him. 
At almost the same moment two gendarmes 
who had been standing by the guard stepped 
forward and detained the Americans. 

An excited conversation ensued, for Mr. 
Westbrook spoke the language of the country 
with ease. The gendarmes, with much per- 
plexity, looked from Mr. Westbrook to poor 
Marjorie, who was unable to determine who 
they were or what they wanted. It was easily 
guessed, however, that whatever their purpose, 
it was greatly displeasing to her papa. 

At last he turned to Marjorie and hurriedly 
explained the situation. 

“ I have been mistaken for another person,” 


32 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


he said, “ and shall be obliged to go with these 
officers, but I hope to prove their error at 
once.” 

So it befell that our travellers made their 
entry into the town under the escort of two 
gendarmes. 

In a short time they arrived at a building 
which in their own country would be called 
a police station, where Mr. Westbrook was 
searched, Marjorie sitting meantime on a bench 
in an outer room, where a man with a pair of 
sharp gray eyes and a grizzly beard was in 
charge. Now and then he looked furtively at 
the disconsolate-looking little figure, as if he 
were none too well pleased that it should be 
there, and Marjorie quite unjustly loathed him 
because of an impression that he was responsi- 
ble for this disagreeable adventure. 

When her father was brought back he gave 
her a glance of such smiling reassurance as to 
impress her with a belief that things had gone 
very ill with him. 

This was quite true, for the papers which 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


33 


the man in the corner of the railway carriage 
had put in Mr. Westbrook’s pocket had been 
found, confirming such suspicions as led to his 
arrest. He was therefore to be detained until 
the matter could be thoroughly investigated. 

As for his daughter, he was assured that she 
would be the charge of the government and 
properly cared for. Mr. Westbrook then asked 
for the privilege of speaking to her before they 
parted, which was readily given him. 

He seated himself on the settee beside her, 
the grizzly-bearded man obligingly turned his 
back, and the two officers remained at a suffi- 
cient distance to give them a chance to speak 
privately. 

“ This is a very amusing adventure,” began 
Mr. Westbrook, with a determined cheerful- 
ness that did not in the least deceive the per- 
son for whose benefit it was assumed. “ I ’ve 
no doubt that by and by, when we have had 
time to forget the little annoyance it causes us, 
that we shall have many a good laugh over it. 
Fancy, Peggy dear, your very harmless parent 
being mistaken for a conspiratorr 


34 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ Oh ! ” said Marjorie, with a gasp. “ Ha, ha ! 
how very funny ! And what, then, will they do 
with you, and what will they do with me? 
Am I supposed to be a conspirator, too ? ” 

“ Oh, I do n’t think they go as far as that,” he 
told her, squeezing her little cold hands in his. 
“You will be comfortably cared for; I have 
been assured of it. But of course I shall be — 
er — detained by the authorities here for a day 
or two, until — ” 

“ What a mean country ! ” interrupted Mar- 
jorie, in a voice intended to be overheard. 

“ Oh, hush, my dear ! ” he implored ; “ let us 
bear our trials with dignity.” 

“ But I am so angry,” she whispered back to 
him. “ Beside, you know, the man-in-the-corner 
said that dignity is n’t my role.” 

“He said a good many things probably that 
are false,” replied her father, savagely biting 
his moustache. “ For my sake, dear child, be 
patient. You know we have often made it our 
boast that we laugh at fortune and that we 
always fall on our feet. Above all,” and here 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


35 


his eyes seemed fairly to bore into her, so 
determined he was to implant this idea in her 
mind, “ remember that neither of us is in any 
real danger. I should dislike to have a coward 
for a daughter. Are you afraid ? ” 

“ No, not a scrap,” she protested, her eyes 
growing black and bold. “ Why should I be 
afraid ? ” 

“ Bravo ! ” he cried. Then he stooped over 
and kissed her, but not making any great show 
of feeling, thinking she might be upset by it. 
“ I shall telegraph at once to your Aunt Belinda 
to come here to look after you, but before she 
arrives I shall probably be released.” 

He got up, with who can say what uneasi- 
ness at thus leaving her, as one may say, to her 
fate. The officers came forward at the instant, 
and all three moved toward the door. In a 
moment he was gone. 

This was the blackest moment Marjorie had 
ever known. 

Then the man with the sharp eyes and the 
grizzly beard went to her, no doubt expecting 


36 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


some outbreak. Marjorie, however, had herself 
well in hand. Her father had often said that 
she could be at will either a baby or a brick- 
bat, and at his entreaty to be brave had instantly 
conquered her inclination to weep. Besides, 
this grizzly man, as he tiptoed toward her, 
with his face screwed up, and snapping his 
fingers as if she were a dog, or a baby who by 
this means could be diverted, appealed to her 
sense of humor, and she had half a mind to 
jump up and bark or to gurgle, crow and 
shake her hands, as the part that would best 
answer his expectation. 

The grizzly man was no doubt well pleased 
that there was not to be such a scene as he 
had perhaps anticipated on the removal of the 
father. Her presence here was exceedingly 
puzzling to him, for as a usual thing, as on his 
dark errands he flees from one place to another, 
a conspirator does not encumber himself with 
a child, and never before on arresting a 
suspicious character had he been compelled 
to provide quarters for any such innocent 
companion. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


37 


“ I suppose,” said Marjorie to him, “ that 
now you are going to take me off to some 
dungeon.” 

“ Tut, tut! ” he cried, or some foreign words 
to that effect. “ What an idea I I ’m going to 
send you to the nicest place you were ever in, 
where you will find lots of little boys and girls — 
two or three hundred of them — to play with 
you.” 

“ Are their fathers travellers whom you have 
pretended were conspirators ? ” she asked, sus- 
piciously. 

“Ha, ha! you’re a funny little girl. You 
like a joke, do n’t you ? ” 

He looked so silly and so helpless tiptoeing 
in front of her that it ’s no wonder that one of 
the officers who had been looking on from the 
other end of the room took pity on him and 
came to the rescue. 

“ / ’// tell her about it, and she will go with 
me,'' said this individual in an insinuating way, 
seating himself on the settee with his arm along 
the back, so that Marjorie immediately moved 


38 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


to the very end of it. “ It ’s a beautiful place 
called the Queen’s Orphanage.” 

“Well, I do n’t want to go there. I’m not 
an orphan, you know,” protested Marjorie, half 
laughing, half crying, and gripping the arm of 
the settee as if she would only be taken there 
by main force. 

The grizzly man looked at her more help- 
lessly than ever, but the other, who was a red- 
cheeked, good-humored creature, had not lost 
faith in the power of his own eloquence, and 
set himself to persuade her that the greatest 
good fortune that could possibly befall a child 
was to become an inmate of this institution. 

So graphically did he describe the scene 
presented to the passer-by every afternoon by 
the orphanage playground (which in all proba- 
bility was all of the institution that he had ever 
seen), that it arose visibly before the disgusted 
Marjorie. She could almost see the orphans 
“frisking there like lambs in springtime,” to 
use the red-cheeked man’s own figure, chasing 
each other around the trees or dancing in cir- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


39 


cles around that bush that grows in every play- 
ground, or around the shameless maiden who 
for so many generations has waited, “ laughing 
and crying ” for a young man to come. She saw 
the swings, seesaws and joggling boards with 
which that playground was provided, with their 
burden of delighted orphans, for with his great 
legs thrust out, and holding on to imaginary 
ropes, he showed how they swung up to the 
very branches of the lime trees, or he bobbed 
up and down on the settee, waving his great red, 
pudgy hands for all the world like some gleeful 
infant on a seesaw or a joggling board. He 
was so silly as to be positively fascinating, and 
she watched him with an interest that quite 
deceived and elated him. 

Poor man ! how crestfallen he was when, 
having come to the end of his description, 
Marjorie shook her head and cried out, looking 
imploringly at each of her companions in turn : 
“ Oh, do n’t make me go to an orphan asylum ! 
It would be dreadful, perfectly dreadful, for I ’ve 
plenty of relations to take care of me, arid a 
home of my own, too.” 


40 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ Where ? ” asked the grizzly man, rather 
curiously. 

“In Biddeford — ” 

The grizzly man shook his head, and the 
red-cheeked man shook his also, and said he 
never heard of any such place. 

“ You have n’t any home here in Marll, any- 
how,” he answered her. “ Something has got 
to be done with you to-night. It ’s getting 
late, and the Queen’s Orphanage is near by. 
Now, I know you will be a good girl and come 
along with mer 

It was the grizzly man, however, who struck 
the right chord, for now, becoming impatient, 
he left off tiptoeing about and snapping his 
fingers, and cried out : — 

“ Dear me, what a fuss ! And your father — 
if he is your father — declared that you would 
be reasonable.” 

“ Did he know where you meant to take 
me } ” asked Marjorie. “ Well, then, I ’ll go 
there.” 

She got up at once, and the red-cheeked 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


41 


man, looking very cheerful, led her out of the 
police station into the street. 

And this is how it happened that on her 
arrival at Marll this child of an adoring father 
found herself lodged in a home for the father- 
less. 


CHAPTER IV 


I T was a proud day for Avaril, for the little 
Queen Margaretta was to be crowned. The 
cities were all in gala attire. The bells pealed 
from every steeple, and the flag of Avaril flut- 
tered from every building. Marll, where the 
ceremony was to take place, was especially 
beautiful in its festal trim, and the people 
there, from the greatest minister of state to the 
humblest citizen, were occupied with nothing 
but the coronation of the little queen. 

It was ten o’clock, and as the ceremonies did 
not begin until twelve, the ladies of the royal 
household were in the palace garden. No one 
in the palace at Marll that day was so stolid as 
not to be thrilled and excited by the solemn 
spectacle they were to witness, when a little 
child was to be singled out from mankind for 
the responsibilities and danger, the loneliness 
and self-sacrifice that the nations confer with a 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


43 


crown. Even the Countess of Barnstetter, 
who had always cultivated the calm of repose 
as beseeming a true aristocrat, wriggled her 
foot incessantly under her satin petticoat, and 
was obliged to hold on to her chair to keep 
herself from jumping out of it. Lady Wilhel- 
mina Starr and Lady Ursula Stolberg, who 
had been ladies-of-honor to the late queen, 
and now served Margaretta with like devo- 
tion, were restlessly pacing the upper terrace, 
longing for the moment when the ceremonies 
should begin. 

Below the terraces lay the beautiful and 
famous court garden, a picturesque spot where 
nature was untampered with, save where the 
luxuriance of vegetation encroached upon 
paths, or where a rustic bridge might span the 
little stream that wound about the garden like 
a blue ribbon. 

The young queen’s favorite walk was the 
path lined with fir trees, called the Avenue of 
Whispers, or Whispering Avenue, which led 
to a waterfall ; and here on a stone bench she 


44 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


sat with old Hedwig, her nurse, on the morn- 
ing of her coronation. 

At a first glance, the likeness that has been 
spoken of as existing between this little queen 
and Marjorie Westbrook was evident enough, 
but the unlikeness in expression was greater 
than the likeness in form and color. Mar- 
jorie’s face sparkled with life and happiness. 
It was naive, petulant, merry or sad in the 
same moment, but the face of Queen Marga- 
retta ever wore a sweet seriousness. Patience 
sat on her white brow, and her child-eyes had 
a wistfulness in them. Moreover, this unlike- 
ness in appearance was emphasized by a still 
greater difference in manner, for that of the 
child-queen was a combination of dignity and 
simplicity such as the ^little American could 
never attain unto. 

The princess wore a white dress of sheerest 
lawn, which was made simply with full baby- 
waist and short, puffed sleeves. She had 
beautifully formed arms and slender hands, 
which lay folded with unchildlike restfulness 





“‘LONG LIVE THE QUEEN.’” 










A CHILD OF GLEE 


45 


in her lap. At her feet lay a beautiful grey- 
hound, who, whenever the old nurse touched 
his royal mistress, growled savagely. 

“ Good Hedwig,” said Margaretta, raising 
her flower-face to the yellow, wrinkled one of 
the old nurse, “ there will be just time now 
for the tale I like best.” 

Old Hedwig nodded her kerchiefed head. 

“Ay, Your Majesty,” she answered, “I was 
about to tell it, being bound to do so by my 
promise to the Romany,” and, having glanced 
in all directions about her as if to gain assur- 
ance that no other than the queen would lis- 
ten to the tale, she lowered her voice and 
began : 

“ It was a morning in the pleasant season, 
and the cries of ‘ Long live the queen, long 
live the queen,’ rang through the streets of 
Marll. Your August Majesty was just born, 
and over the apartments of Queen Beatrice 
waved the white flag which announced to the 
populace the birth of an heir to the throne 
of Avaril.” 


46 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ And though the flag was white instead of 
red, because I was a girl, the people were 
glad, were they not, Hedwig ? ” 

“Glad! They were wild with joy. Your 
Majesty. They could not contain them- 
selves, but ran through the streets madly 
shouting, ‘ Long live the queen, long live the 
queen.’ Bonfires were built all over the king- 
dom as soon as the news spread of Your 
Majesty’s birth. For everybody rejoiced that 
a successor of the good King Humboldt 
would sit upon the throne, which otherwise 
would pass to that blackheart, Duke Otto 
of Cohentz.” 

“And — and — good Hedwig, do not for- 
get about the old lame man,” entreated the 
queen. 

“ Surely not, Excellentissimo, for he stood 
by the bronze statue of King Humboldt, for 
which, in their love for him, every one, even 
to the humblest man, wished to contribute, 
so that now one sometimes hears some rough 
fellow say : — 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


47 


“ ‘ Behold the statue of our good king. 
’T is a fine work of art and I myself went 
without a coat all that year, or our family ate 
nothing but porridge for months, that — ’ ” 

“ Not that story now, good Hedwig,” said 
the queen. “ You are to tell me of the old 
lame man, you know.” 

“ Well, the old cripple stood in the grand 
square by King Humboldt’s statue, blocking 
the way,” Hedwig went on. “He blocked the 
way, for he had a great following, and when 
the police went to clear the grand square of 
this obstruction, the people would not let the 
old tinker (for an old tinker he was) be hin- 
dered. 

“ ‘ See,’ they said, ‘ he is so feeble and 
lame that he has not stirred from his house 
these five years, and on this day he hath 
walked a good half-mile, in his joy that a 
child of the good king has been born to rule 
over us ; and he is going to see with his 
own eyes the white flag that waves over the 
palace.’ Then they fetched a litter and car- 


48 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


ried him to the palace, and he was hoisted up 
above the heads of the people. So quiet they 
were for an instant that his old quavering 
voice was heard plainly for a good distance 
as he cried, ‘ Long live our queen ! ’ 

“ Then did the people shout the words after 
him till they rang to the very heavens.” 

“ Ah,” said the little queen, smiling, “ the 
people were glad ' I had come to reign over 
them. I hope they will never be sorry.” 

“Well, then,” resumed the old nurse, “the 
sound of their voices reached the queen’s 
ears, and sending for me, she whispered low, 

‘ My faithful Hedwig, do the people rejoice, 
or are they angry that I have not given them 
a king, instead of a queen ? ’ 

“ They do but rejoice. Your Majesty,” I an- 
swered. 

“ By and by she sent for me a second time. 

“ ‘ Hedwig,’ she said, ‘ my heart misgives 
me. Go thou out into the streets privately 
and listen to the people to find out if now 
and then amid the voices there is not one 


A CHILD OF GLEE 49 

that prophesies evil — one that laments that 
a woman is to wear the crown of AvariL’ 

“ I feared me that her majesty’s mind wan- 
dered, for ’t was not her wont to own to any 
fears, being as proud and brave as beseems a 
queen. But though I misliked to leave the 
royal babe a moment in other hands, I was 
constrained to obey. 

“ Muffling myself with cloak and veil, that 
none knowing that I came from the palace 
should seek to hide his feeling from me, I 
went into the streets.” 

“ And were the people glad — were they 
really glad ? ” asked the little queen, as ea- 
gerly as if she knew not what the answer 
would be. 

The good Hedwig bowed and smiled, say- 
ing:— 

“Such letting out of the heart. Your Ma- 
jesty, such protestations of thankfulness and 
rejoicing were never heard before in Avaril. 
Listen as I might, I could hear naught else, 
and I turned back with only good tidings for 


50 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


the queen-regent. To shorten the way, I 
came through the court garden, and as Your 
Majesty knows, if one enters it at the western 
gate, the shortest way to the palace is through 
the Whispering Avenue. So, as I was has- 
tening on, I suddenly beheld just beyond the 
waterfall, in the middle of this path, the fig- 
ure of a Romany. As one might guess, she 
was the mother, the queen of a gypsy tribe. 
Her brows were bound with a crimson ker- 
chief and gold coins were plentifully strung 
amongst her jet-black locks. Tall and ma- 
jestic, rich-colored, dark-browed and with 
eyes of fire, she could make one forget even 
such an errand as mine. 

“ When I had come within two yards of the 
spot where she stood, she made a gesture for 
me to stop. 

“‘You are the nurse of the new-born 
queen.’ Heaven alone knows how she of 
all those who had seen me could have dis- 
covered this fact, but I did not deny it, and 
immediately she .went on : — 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


51 


“ ‘ Listen, woman ! I have read her horo- 
scope and for the sake of her father, King 
Humboldt, who did ever deal honorably with 
the gypsies, I would ward off the evils that 
I read too surely in the stars will be her lot. 
She is born under clear skies, but the clouds 
will soon gather over her. The queen-re- 
gent, her mother, will die ere the year is out. 
Blind, blind will her counsellors be. But let 
her beware St. Margaret’s Day, St. Margaret’s 
Day, the day of birth. Woman, promise me 
to repeat this warning to her.’ 

“ I promised,” said the old nurse. “ Ah, me, 
she would have banned me had I not, and a 
gypsy’s curse works mischief. So I promised 
to repeat her warning to Your Majesty, word 
for word, every year of your life on the day 
before St. Margaret’s Day, and once beside, 
on the day you should be crowned.” 

“ And you have kept your promise faith- 
fully, good Hedwig,” said the queen. “ And 
’t is well you have finished, for, listen ! there 
are the bells again, and ’tis time for me to 
be dressed in my coronation robes.” 


CHAPTER V 


HE people love me. I am not afraid.” 



1 So said the little queen as she went 
forth to be crowned. 

The coronation of Margaretta was to be 
celebrated with great solemnity and magnifi- 
cence. That she was to be crowned now, 
instead of upon her eighteenth birthday, as is 
the usual custom, was a political measure. 
The idea originated in the brain of the old 
Duke Von Bourn, who, since the death of the 
queen-regent, Margaretta’s mother, had been 
at the head of the government. He had been 
the chief counsellor of good King Humboldt, 
and of the old king, too. King Humboldt’s 
father. Old as he was, it was his pride and 
joy to serve and honor this little child of eleven 
years, though, to be sure, he wished to do it in 
his own way. There is no doubt at all that he 
would have laid down his life if thereby he 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


53 


could establish Margaretta more securely upon 
the throne of Avaril, and that it was due to his 
skill and loyalty that all the schemes of the 
Ottoists (as the followers of Duke Otto were 
called) to seize the throne had been defeated. 

The ceremonies of the day to the smallest 
detail, it was said, were arranged by the old 
minister, all with a view to its effect upon 
the people. Everywhere were to be signs of 
the nation’s prosperity. A great fleet of war- 
vessels was drawn up along the coast. Rep- 
resentatives of her armies, of her subject peo- 
ples, and great civic parades would bespeak 
her wealth and power. All this display, this 
pomp and glitter and gorgeous pageantry 
must stir the national pride and the loyalty 
of the people to Margaretta’s line, under 
which Avaril had so prospered. Then, when 
this feeling was at its height, the child of good 
King Humboldt was to be carried through 
the streets to receive her rightful crown. Im- 
possible that the public heart should not be 
moved by the spectacle. Impossible but that 


54 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


every man would silently in his heart take 
the oath of fealty to Margaretta. 

Had she been made to Von Bourn’s order, 
the little queen could not be better fitted for 
her part. 

She wore that day a dress of soft white 
silk, with marguerites (the national flower of 
Avaril), thickly set in gold and pearls, upon it. 
The waist was cut in a high square, both back 
and front, and the sleeves were looped up 
with strings of pearls. But no sooner had 
one taken in this magnificence than it was 
forgotten again in the far greater beauty of the 
young queen’s face. A little face so adorned 
by the loveliest graces of our common nature 
— love, patience, courage, and purity — as only 
one face in hundreds, however these virtues 
may reside in the heart, ever gives expression 
to, and then, while her lightest glance seemed 
to carry such meanings of tenderness, her 
whole bearing announced, “ I am the queen.” 

As she rode through the streets to the 
cathedral, where the coronation was to take 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


55 


place, Margaretta was not hidden from view ; 
trust the old minister for that. The queen’s 
carriage was of glass, the body of it solid 
silver set with precious stones. Over it was 
a canopy of rich ruby velvet, embroidered 
in gold and decorated with ostrich plumes, 
both red and white. The carriage was drawn 
by milk-white horses with silver harnesses 
adorned by more ostrich feathers, and beside 
each horse walked an officer, very splendid to 
behold, in red and gold. The queen’s body- 
guard rode in advance of Margaretta’s car- 
riage. It was made up of the largest and 
handsomest young men in the kingdom, and 
as they wore gold breastplates, and the flying 
dragon, which was the national device of 
Avaril, in burnished gold adorned their hel- 
mets, they made an imposing part of the pro- 
cession. 

Just behind Margaretta’s coach came her 
favorite greyhound, held in a flower-wound 
leash by an attendant dressed in ivory white, 
with crimson scarf and collar, and shoulder- 
pieces of gold. 


56 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


This breed of greyhound is the pride of 
Avaril, and the prime minister knew that the 
choice of one of these native dogs from her 
kennels, filled with rare dogs from all quar- 
ters of the world, would make for Margar- 
etta’s popularity with her subjects, for which 
reason did Blanco take this conspicuous posi- 
tion in the procession. 

Poor Blanco was utterly bewildered by 
these strange proceedings. No doubt in his 
stupid dog-brain there was a confused idea 
that it was for no good that they were tak- 
ing his queen-mistress away from the palace, 
or the palace gardens, where he liked best to 
keep her. Perhaps she was held against her 
will in that moving cage, as, despite his strug- 
gles, he was held by the flower-wound leash. 
And in particular it infuriated him to see the 
Duke Von Bourn, whom he hated, seated so 
near her. It was this that occasioned Blanco’s 
low growls, which Margaretta would silence 
with a look from her soft eyes, seeing which 
the people would go crazy with approval and 
delight. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


57 


Next in the procession came many splendid 
equipages with the members of the States- 
General, with the ladies of the royal house- 
hold, with foreign princes and nobles, with 
representatives of foreign governments, and 
of her colonies; and behind these were regi- 
ments of armed and mounted men, in uniforms 
of dark green and steel, carrying glittering 
spears ; others in tawny orange and black and 
gold, marching with waving pennants, and 
the air was filled with the clank, clank of 
steel and tramp of horses’ hoofs. 

While cannons boomed, bells pealed, and 
people cheered, the stately procession moved 
on, as dazzling and lovely as a scene from 
fairyland, a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle. It 
was imposing, but it had a pathetic side 
also. The very magnificence of her corona- 
tion was a sign of the little queen’s weakness. 
Its true significance was danger. 

Happily, Margaretta herself was uncon- 
scious of this meaning. She looked happily 
out upon her people (whose demonstrations 


58 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


of delight warmed her heart ), casting no 
mechanical smiles upon them, but greeting 
them with winning heartiness. 

As she looked upon that sea of faces, all 
turned toward her, she murmured : — 

“ The people love me, I am sure they do. 
Madame,” turning to the old Countess of 
Barnstetter, who sat beside her, “ do you 
not see with what a will they swing their hats 
and cry, ‘ God save the queen,’ or, ‘ Long live 
the queen.’ Look at that old man with a white 
beard yonder ; and see, there is a woman hold- 
ing a little girl by the hand, who, though she 
has tears in her eyes, is smiling at me. Why 
has she tears in her eyes, madame ? ” 

“ No doubt the sun blinds her. Your Ma- 
jesty,” replied the countess. And for a mo- 
ment her eyes and also those of the prime 
minister rested compassionately upon the 
little queen. 

Margaretta, however, continued to look at 
her subjects with glad confidence. 

“ I shall make them very happy, for,” with 


A CHILD OF GLEE 59 

a smile at Von Bourn, “ you will teach me to 
rule wisely.” 

“Your Majesty will remember the oath 
you will take to-day,” answered the duke, 
who never lost an opportunity to impress 
upon Margaretta’s mind the sacrifices that 
are demanded of a sovereign, “and that a 
queen’s happiness resides above all in the 
welfare of the nation.” 

Alas, poor little rosebud queen, she was des- 
tined early to learn the truth of these words ! 

The countess bit her lip. She had one 
tender spot in her proud heart, and that was 
for Margaretta. 

After all, the little queen was too young, 
perhaps, to realize the significance of what had 
been said, for she continued to regard her peo- 
ple with a happy, maternal sort of smile which 
was amusing, repeating undismayed the for- 
mula she had been taught : — 

“ I will always place the nation’s welfare 
before my own happiness, as a good queen 
should.” 


6o 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Just as she said this, they reached the 
grand square, opposite which rose the beautiful 
cathedral where the coronation was to take 
place; and here stood the statue of King 
Humboldt. 

He was represented in a most paternal atti- 
tude, although he was only twenty-five when 
he died; with his arms outstretched, as if he 
were blessing his people. 

The pose was considered very conventional 
and stupid by persons instructed in things 
artistic, but it much pleased the masses, who 
loved to commemorate in this way the benignity 
of the dead king. Whether artistic or not, 
one was forced to admit that there was a lofty 
expression on the bronze face that was impres- 
sive, and that a vague, tender smile played over 
the stiff metal lips. No doubt the sculptor 
had caught the true expression of the good 
king’s face, for so like it was that of the 
pink-and- white one of flesh and blood that was 
upturned to it for a moment as the queen’s 
carriage passed by, that the old minister’s 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


6l 

eyes grew dim as he looked at the two faces, 
for he had loved the king with all his loyal 
heart ; and he took the hand of Margaretta in 
his, pressing upon it a reverential kiss. 

They had now arrived at the cathedral, 
where a charming and unexpected sight met 
the queen’s eye. For here, on either side of 
the great door, were ranged in rows the little 
orphans of St. Mary’s, or the “ queen’s orphans,” 
as they were more commonly called, having 
been previously under the patronage of Queen 
Beatrice, as they were now under the patronage 
of Margaretta. 

The girls wore white muslin frocks, each 
with a bunch of marguerites pinned in her 
kerchief, a dainty close white cap on each little 
curly head. The boys wore quaint suits deco- 
rated with gilt buttons. 

As Margaretta alighted from the coach the 
girls made profound courtesies, and the boys 
raised their hats, bowing low. The little maids 
were as pretty as dolls, one with glistening 
red-gold curls and dark eyes particularly pleas- 


62 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


ing the little queen, who in her delight forgot 
for a moment that she herself was not a little 
girl, but a queen. 

As these little maids slowly rose from this 
obeisance, one of them, the little one whose 
beauty had pleased Margaretta, looking straight 
into the royal eyes, made an ugly, mocking 
grimace. 

No one but Margaretta saw it, for Von 
Bourn was walking with his chin in the air, 
his eyes straight before him, and every one else 
was looking at the queen. 

“ My people love me. I am not afraid,” 
Margaretta had said, cheered by the demonstra- 
tions of joy which greeted her on every side; 
but now the cheering and shouts and waving 
of caps were forgotten. In vain the cannon 
boomed, trumpets blared, and flags waved. 
She saw neither the great mass of rejoicing 
people in the square nor the august assembly 
in the cathedral. She saw nothing but the 
ugly grimace of the little pauper. 

Perhaps the most touching and memorable 


A CHILD OF GLEE 63 

moment of that great day was when at last the 
little queen stood before her throne. 

It was on a great platform hung with royal 
purple, in the centre of the chapel, and under 
a canopy on which was the great flying dragon 
of Avaril. The -throne itself was of silver, 
richly studded with rubies. Behind it stood 
the royal standard bearer, and an offlcer or 
court dignitary, covered with decorations, hold- 
ing the crown on a red cushion. 

Imagine, then, this lovely child on the dawn- 
lit side of twelve years, with little, helpless 
hands folded before her, and innocent, great 
baby-eyes raised to the face of the archbishop, 
before whom and the assembled multitude she 
swore to maintain the constitution, to defend 
and guard the territory of the kingdom, and to 
protect the rights of her subjects. 

Could anything be more absurd and pathetic ? 

Then the archbishop lowered the crown on 
the child’s head, at the same time proclaiming 
her title as : — 

“ Margaretta, very sacred Majesty, always 
august Queen of Avaril.” 


64 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


They placed her on the throne, — the great 
massive throne that only a large man could 
fill, and upon which she looked smaller and 
more helpless than ever. The glittering jew- 
elled crown was held over her head (other- 
wise it would have slipped down to her shoul- 
ders), and she looked upon the closely packed 
mass of people, half frightened, half proudly, 
and still with that sting in the heart that the 
charity orphan had implanted there. Every 
member of the States-General then took the 
oath of fealty to the queen’s person and 
throne. It was during this ceremony that a 
little incident occurred which was looked 
upon by many as ’ an ill omen to Margaretta’s 
reign. 

All through the ceremonies the behavior of 
Blanco, the greyhound, had been most repre- 
hensible. So fiercely he tugged at the leash 
that held him that although every inch of 
standing-room in the cathedral was precious, 
there was a wide vacant circle around him. 
Again and again his angry growl was heard 



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A CHILD OF GLEE 


65 


through the church. Then, as if this were not 
bad enough, he began to whine in a distressful 
way that struck altogether a wrong note in the 
general rejoicing. Meantime, his great, faithful 
eyes never wavered from the little white-robed 
figure that would always be queen of his heart, 
whether it was ever seated on the great silver 
throne or not. 

When the crown was placed upon Marga- 
retta’s head his eyes fairly blazed. He stood 
perfectly quiet, with only those blazing eyes 
and a certain shivering of the skin to bespeak 
his agony. Then came the moment when the 
oath of fealty was to be taken, and Von Bourn, 
bending low, kissed the queen’s hand, — Von 
Bourn whom he hated from the depths of his 
fierce, faithful dog-heart. Blanco could stand 
no more. With one frantic effort he snapped 
the leash, and with a bound was upon that 
purple-draped platform, his sharp teeth in the 
minister’s leg. 

A tremor ran over the great assembly, and 
for a moment there was danger of a panic. 


66 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


But the dog was instantly caught, and growling 
and blazing, dragged from the cathedral. 

And so at last, with only this protest from 
a brute, Margaretta was crowned Queen of 
Avaril and carried in triumph back to the 
palace. 


CHAPTER VI 


HE astute young reader has doubtless 



1 surmised that the girl who had mocked 
at the queen was no other than our poor 
Marjorie. 

As she stood with the children from the 
orphanage by the door of the great cathedral, 
she was keenly conscious of the irony of fate 
by which she was at last witnessing this gor- 
geous scene in the guise of a pauper. 

The grimace which Margaretta felt as a 
mark of aversion to herself was but an invol- 
untary expression of her resentment against 
the course of things, and in particular the 
course of the government of Avaril. 

It was impossible that she should understand 
her father s position as that of a man suspected 
of being an Ottoist, and of having been con- 
cerned in a conspiracy against the queen. She 
believed merely that he had been mistaken for 


68 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


some one against whom the government “ had 
a grudge,” and it would have been a very wise 
and philosophical child who, under such exas- 
perating circumstances, would not have felt 
rather bitter. 

Marjorie had been received with much kind- 
ness at the Queen’s Orphanage. 

The institution was full at this time, but the 
matron saw that she was comfortably lodged 
that first night. Afterwards she shared a bed 
with one of the older girls, a wise person who 
had been in the institution longer than any of 
the other children, and it seemed almost as if 
she belonged to the corps of instructors. 
Adelaide had a rather depressing effect some- 
times on Marjorie, imparting to her so much 
more information than that gay young person 
could digest. 

Like the rest of the world at Marll, the 
queen’s orphans were wild over the coming 
coronation. Simple as it was, they had been 
well drilled in their part in the programme, 
and up to the very morning of the coronation 


A CHILD OF GLEE 69 

practised it before a little French dancing 
master. 

The Frenchman was charmed by Marjorie, 
who, it was decided, should go with the other 
children to the cathedral, if she could be taught 
to make the obeisance in time. This was mere 
play for Marjorie. With her instinct for the 
dramatic, she made her courtesy so deep, so 
reverential, so modest, that the orphans gazed 
upon her with wide-eyed wonder. When the 
dancing master praised her, and bade the 
others take her for their model, she immedi- 
ately assumed an utterly stolid expression, 
stiffened herself from head to foot, and bobbed 
before him in such perfect imitation of them 
as made him rage to behold. But he did not 
complain of her to the matron, as he would 
have been perfectly justified in doing. He 
only shook his head, saying, as if that explained 
everything : — 

“ Parbleu ! elle est Americainer 

In her heart, despite such playfulness. Peg 
was terribly uneasy about her father, and 


70 A CHILD OF GLEE 

wished a hundred times that she had never 
aspired to witness the coronation of the Queen 
of Avaril. Doubtless, as he said, the mistake 
would be rectified and he would be released ; 
but in the meantime he was perhaps very 
uncomfortable. If he were not uncomfortable 
in any other way he would no doubt make 
himself so about her. 

The orphans walked to the cathedral two by 
two, Marjorie and Adelaide together. Mar- 
jorie was pleased that Adelaide fell to her 
share, because she was so meek that she would 
listen without protest to the disparagement of 
Avaril, by which means Marjorie sometimes 
relieved her resentment. 

The long waiting-time at the church door 
would have passed very wearily for the orphans 
had it not been for Marjorie’s fun ; she enliv- 
ened them by little jokes, earning a severe 
rebuke by far too good mimicry of some grand 
personages who by mischance could not get 
places in the cathedral. 

“ Ah me ! how angry they were, these poor 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


71 


mesdames and messieurs ! ” she whispered to 
Adelaide. “ I suppose of course this is a won- 
derful event for your people, because Avaril is 
an absolute monarchy.” 

Marjorie paused. She was not sure that 
Avaril was an absolute monarchy, or even 
exactly what an absolute monarchy might be. 
She had heard her Aunt Belinda use the term 
in a derogatory sort of way, and thought it 
sounded very well. As Adelaide — who would 
certainly have corrected her if she were wrong — 
had nothing to say, she went on airily : — 

“ In America we have these shows every four 
years, when we set up a new president, so it ’s 
no great affair to me. I ’m willing that any one 
who wants it should have my place.” 

“ Four years is a long time,” said Adelaide, 
“ and you have n’t lived long enough to be 
tired out, I should think, with the number of 
presidents that you have set up.” 

“ Oh, but there are other times when we 
have splendid parades,” Marjorie began, but 
was interrupted by an excited exclamation that 
the procession was coming. 


72 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Sure enough, the Queen’s Guards had just 
turned into the great square, catching the full 
sunshine on their gold breastplates and helmets, 
and filling the space with the color of their 
gorgeous scarlet uniforms. 

“ Are n’t they a gaudy lot, though ! ” exclaimed 
Marjorie, whose color rose and heart beat fast 
at the gay spectacle. “ But, dear me ! they 
march so slowly it makes me ache. It is n’t 
the way we do things in Biddeford, Oh, 
Adelaide, I wish you could see our processions 
on the Fourth of July ! ” 

Inferior though it might be, Adelaide was 
too interested in the scene before her eyes to 
listen to any description of Biddeford magnifi- 
cence. Her attention was riveted to the 
queen’s coach, as was Marjorie’s also. 

“ Red and white,” she commented ; “ real 
countrified, peppermint-candy sort of color.” 

Here, the carriage having stopped, the queen 
alighted, and Peg was struck dumb, as was 
every one else who beheld the sweetness and 
youth, and magnificence and simplicity that 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


73 


were united in the person of this little queen. 
And something not to be swallowed or other- 
wise got rid of came into her throat, and tears 
came into her eyes. 

So now, as Margaretta, with the prime min- 
ister, advanced, was the time when the orphans 
were to salute her, and as one child they 
ducked their little heads, bending low. Just 
as they did so, as a black cloud over all the 
pomp and glitter of the scene, over all the 
poetry and prettiness of it, came the thought 
into Marjorie’s mind of her dear father a pris- 
oner. Such a revulsion of feeling it brought, 
such anger and bitterness, that as she drew 
herself up again she impulsively expressed 
her feelings in the way that has been men- 
tioned. 

Margaretta passed on into the cathedral and 
Marjorie looked about her. Evidently no one 
except the little queen had noticed the awful 
act she had been guilty of. 

“ Ah me ! ” cried Adelaide, “ is she not beau- 
tiful — our queen And as good, it is said, as 


74 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


she is beautiful. And now they will put the 
crown upon her head and proclaim her : — 

“ Margaretta, very sacred Majesty, always 
august Queen of Avaril.” 

“ Gracious ! that little snipe — how very 
ridiculous ! ” cried Marjorie, but by good luck, 
not knowing the word for “ snipe ” in Adelaide’s 
tongue, she was obliged to substitute bird, 
which of course was not so offensive. Then to 
every one’s surprise, this madcap took out her 
pocket-handkerchief and began to weep — a 
performance that was not at all on the pro- 
gramme. 


CHAPTER VII 


N ext day, whatever went on at the court, 
the orphanage resumed the even tenor 
of its way. The French dancing-master was 
seen there no more. Seven times nine and 
six times eight were much talked about, and 
little samplers appeared on which hemstitch- 
ing, backstitching and darning were practised ; 
in none of which things did Marjorie excel. 

Then followed three miserable days when 
she must have forgotten her father’s injunc- 
tion to be brave and patient ; particularly did 
she ignore the last-named virtue, which was 
not hers by nature. 

A black sheep she was among the docile 
orphans, trying to the utmost the forbearance 
of teacher and supervisors. 

They could not understand why she should 
be so unusually clever in some ways and so 
unusually stupid in others. 


76 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ Fancy, a child of eleven years,” they said, 
“who could not make a bed or a button-hole, 
and was unable to answer such a question 
as : ‘ Two-thirds of four-fifths are three-tenths 
of how many ? ’ ” 

Between the wrong answers that she gave 
out of ill-timed attempts • at pleasantry and 
those she gave out of her ignorance, she nearly 
drove them wild. 

When asked to state the comparative size 
and importance of the nations, she declared 
her own country to stand first and Avaril last. 
She insisted that she had never seen Avaril 
upon the maps at all. It must have been pure 
mischief that prompted this answer. 

But when, during the catechism which was 
in order in that institution every morning, she 
was once asked, “ What is the chief end of 
man ? ” she replied in all sincerity : — 

“ Why, his head, I suppose.” 

And afterwards she carried it off as a joke 
rather than own to her stupidity. 

Yet she knew how to be so charming and 


A CHILD OF GLEE 77 

she was so affectionate and dear that the mis- 
chief was quickly forgiven. 

“ The poor child is in a strange country and 
away from all her friends,” the good matron 
would say when any complaint was made 
against Marjorie. “ She has been petted and 
spoiled a little, perhaps, but, after all, it ’s not 
every child in her place that would be so rea- 
sonable.” 

Every afternoon a circle would be made 
about her as she sat under the lime trees in 
the school garden, and all her offences would 
be forgotten while she sang song after song, 
gay or grave, in her sweet, free, dashing voice, 
that every now and then had that surprising 
note of pathos in it. 

As for the orphans, they unreservedly ad- 
mired and adored her. They tried to sing and 
to play and to carry themselves just like Mar- 
jorie, wherein, perhaps, lay .the chief trouble. 

Well, a week passed, and as far as Marjorie 
could see, her father was no nearer his liberty 
than ever. The occasion for all the trouble he 


78 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


had, this harmless American gentleman, guilt- 
less of any conspiracy against the Queen of 
Avaril or any one else, it is not the purpose of 
the present writer to explain. It has nothing to 
do with Marjorie’s story, except as the cause of 
her numerous adventures, and an explanation 
would call for many a page, filled with dry 
politics. Besides, as a secondary reason, the 
whys and wherefores are altogether beyond 
the present writer’s knowledge or ability to 
discover. 

At all events, at the end of that week Mar- 
jorie was very naturally discouraged and 
alarmed. She actually grew thin, and could 
neither eat nor sleep o’ nights. There were 
often tears in her pretty eyes. 

It was not for herself that she was miserable 
but for her father, who, as she often reminded 
herself, was suffering from his unselfish desire 
to give her pleasure. Oh, how often she 
wished that there never was any such country 
as Avaril. 

As soon as he had discovered that his pre- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


79 


dicament was serious, Mr. Westbrook had 
telegraphed to his sister, Miss Belinda West- 
brook, to come at once to Avaril for the pro- 
tection and care of Marjorie, who therefore 
looked eagerly for her each day. She hoped 
that when her Aunt Belinda came she would 
know how to help her father. As Marjorie 
has previously explained, her Aunt Belinda 
was a most resolute person, and whatever she 
set her mind on, in one way or another, was 
usually brought to pass. To be sure, Marjorie 
did not see exactly how she was to cope with 
that mysterious but powerful thing called “ the 
government.” Still, such was her faith in her 
aunt, born of long and convincing experience, 
that she counted eagerly upon her arrival. 

Sometimes in her impatience, Marjorie stole 
out of the orphanage grounds and walked 
toward the railway station, peering into each 
cab for the familiar face of her aunt, and one 
fine morning she was so unfortunate as to lose 
herself in this big, strange city. Wandering 
about, at last she came out upon the square 


So 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


where the palace is. As she walked along the 
southern boulevard whereon the palace garden 
borders, she wished she might get a glimpse 
of Margaretta ; for the clocks were just strik- 
ing eleven, and she remembered to have heard 
that the queen always walked in the palace 
garden at that hour. 

Despite her troubles, Marjorie was still in- 
tensely interested in the young queen. She 
thought her quite the loveliest little being 
that she had ever seen. 

As for that horrible grimace she had made, 
Marjorie believed that Margaretta had been 
too much occupied by her own very interest- 
ing affairs to notice it. It was always so easy 
for Marjorie to believe what was pleasantest, 
and the more she thought of it the more 
ashamed she was of her own uncouth behav- 
ior; that it had been both vulgar and unkind, 
and far away from that dignity that her father 
had urged upon her, as the proper way to bear 
the indignities which they suffered, she was 
now very sure. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


8l 


When at last Marjorie came to an open 
gateway in the palace garden, she could not 
forego the chance to slip in to view the place. 
This gate, as it happened, was not far from 
the Avenue of Whispers, and it was into this 
very path that chance turned her steps. Hav- 
ing walked a short distance, the little girl 
suddenly stopped, uttering a low exclamation 
of surprised delight. 

On a stone bench near a water-fall was the 
little figure of the queen, and in the distance 
beyond, the vanishing skirts of some gover- 
ness or attendant. The queen was entirely 
alone. 

It seemed to Marjorie that fate must have 
brought Margaretta to this solitary place, ban- 
ished the governess, and then fetched her to 
plead her father’s cause. 

And what a lovely spot it was ! Cool and 
shady, with the musical trickle of the water- 
fall to make it seem more cool and shady, 
and the misty blue shadow-spaces, broken here 
and there by dazzling spots of gold sunshine. 


82 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


The only sound that broke the silence was the 
fall of the water, the occasional chirp of some 
bird, and now and then, softened by distance, 
the screech of the peacocks on the terrace by 
the palace. 

Marjorie wondered what was the proper 
way to address a queen. Should she drop 
upon her knees and hide her face, which was 
the posture of Effie Deans in a picture she 
had seen, where the Scotch damsel was beg- 
ging her sister’s life of the king.f^ 

It looked very well in the picture, but did 
seem in this case, as one little girl addressing 
another, very absurd. 

Should she begin her speech with “ Most 
Royal Sovereign,” or use any of those high- 
sounding titles that had been given to Avaril’s 
queen ? And if so, which one ? 

But having come within a few yards of 
Margaretta, who looked hastily up at the 
sound of footsteps, she simply stood stock- 
still, all thought of court etiquette put to 
rout by that deep sense of human brother- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 83 

hood that was one of her strongest feel- 
ings. 

“You poor, sweet little thing! You are cry- 
ing. Oh, what’s the matter?” she said, just 
as she would have said to any other child. 


CHAPTER VIII 


S INCE her coronation Margaretta had been 
very unhappy. This was chiefly because 
of the loss of Blanco, who had been the only 
intimate friend she had ever had. 

Although with great self-control the prime 
minister had gone through the ceremonies at 
the cathedral, he had been seriously bitten by 
the greyhound. He had been laid up ever 
since that time in consequence, unable to attend 
to the affairs of state, which, like some naughty 
child, took advantage of it to go wrong. That 
he should give orders that Blanco should be 
killed or “ put out of the way ” was perfectly 
justifiable, but it bore hard on Margaretta. It 
was good practice, however, in the business of 
giving up her own happiness for the good 
of others, and she had acquiesced, though with 
a good many tears. 

“ Queens do not cry,” said the countess, find- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


85 

ing her royal ward grieving bitterly. But then 
the countess disliked dogs, poor Blanco in 
particular, and considered his demise as a 
happy dispensation of Providence. 

Margaretta conscientiously struggled for that 
serenity of demeanor that is expected of sov- 
ereigns, but her heart was very sore, and again 
and again human nature was too strong for 
her, so that one day when they were in the 
garden the countess declared herself greatly 
displeased, and ordered her to sit quietly for 
an hour upon the stone bench as a punish- 
ment. 

It seemed to poor little Margaretta that the 
disadvantages of being a queen far outweighed 
the advantages. High-sounding but unmean- 
ing titles took the place of petting; pompous 
and tiresome ceremonials of the healthful and 
natural sports of childhood ; ladies-of-honor 
instead of playmates ; and to crown all, she 
could not even cry in peace. Beside, it did not 
seem as if, notwithstanding the sacrifices she 
must make for them, her people loved her very 


86 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


much, for the recollection of the charity 
orphan’s behavior troubled her still. In fact, 
she was thinking of it now, as she sat misera- 
bly on the stone bench, making the most of 
her unusual privacy to weep. 

At the sound of Marjorie’s step she looked 
up in consternation and the expectation of 
reproof, for she thought that the countess must 
have come back. 

“You are the little girl who mocked at me 
when I was going into the cathedral,” she 
said. “ Oh, why do you hate me so ? ” 

“ Hate you ? I perfectly adore you, for you 
are the loveliest thing I ever saw in all my 
life,” cried Marjorie, blushing, partly with 
shame and partly with fervor. “ I did n’t mean 
that day anything unpleasant, and I ’m per- 
fectly willing to kneel down and kiss the hem 
of your garments, or bump my forehead on 
the ground, or whatever is the proper thing to 
do. Only you will have to tell me, because I 
do n’t know.” 

“ Oh, no. I do n’t wish you to do anything 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


87 


of that kind,” said the queen, with a sigh that 
went to Marjorie’s heart. She looked about 
the garden and then gave another sigh, this 
time one of relief. “ I am glad that you do 
not hate me,” she said, with her little air of 
dignity. “ The thought that you did made me 
unhappy.” 

“ How sorry I am I was ever so rude and so 
horrid as to do what I did ! I quite hate 
myself for it. Were you — Your Majesty, I 
mean,” said Marjorie, bringing herself up with 
a jerk, “was Your August Majesty crying for 
that ? ” 

“ Well, partly for that, and partly because 
Blanco has been killed. He was my favorite 
dog, and he loved me.” 

“ How dared they kill him, if you did not 
wish it — I mean, of course, if Your Majesty 
did not wish it ? ” said Marjorie, with a puzzled 
frown. “ Vou are the queen ! ” 

“ Yes, I am the queen,” Margaretta assented. 
“ But Blanco was dangerous. He bit the Duke 
Von Bourn, who therefore ordered that he 


88 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


should be put out of the way. I know it was 
quite right, but I am terribly lonely.” 

Marjorie sat down, uninvited, on the stone 
seat beside the queen, and took her hand. 
There were tears in her eyes also. 

Margaretta stopped crying at once. The 
warm clasp of this child’s hand comforted her 
with its friendliness. She did not draw her 
own away. 

“ That Boom Boom, with his chin in the air, 
seems to be a very officious person,” Marjorie 
presently observed. “ I wonder what he would 
have done if he had seen me draw that face. 
I think I really meant it for him, though you 
were so beautiful I could not help looking at 
you. 

“ If he had seen you ! Oh, dear,” Margar- 
etta shuddered. “ How fortunate it is that he 
did notr 

“ What would have happened ? ” asked Mar- 
jorie, with much curiosity, but the queen shook 
her head doubtfully, and she went on with an 
easy air: “ Perhaps he would have had me be- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


headed. Put out of the way like poor Blanco. 
But, after all, it ’s not so easy to put me out of 
the way. I suppose they thought that was 
done when I was sent to the orphanage. 
Yet, here I am. Suppose old Boom Boom 
were to come along uow^ with his chin down a 
bit lower for once, so he should see me ? ” 

Margaretta laid her hand on Marjorie’s arm, 
looking anxiously at her. 

“ I think you had better go. Some one 
might come. In fact, the countess may come 
back at any moment. I would not wish you 
to be treated ill.” 

“ They would n’t be likely to do anything 
worse than to turn me out of the garden, and 
I ’m enjoying myself so,” Marjorie objected. 
“ I never expected to have a tete-a-tete with a 
queen. It’s the only pleasant thing that’s 
happened since we reached Avaril.” 

“ Oh, then, you are really not one of my sub- 
jects,” said the queen. 

“ I ’m not a subject at all, I ’m a queen my- 
self,” answered Peg, laughing. “ A queen in 


90 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


disguise, though,” she added, looking down at 
her blue gingham frock, white apron and cape, 
which was the garb of the queen’s orphans. 

“You are Queen of — ” 

“ Biddeford,” Peg answered, gravely. Then 
seeing that Margaretta took her at her word, 
she explained the situation here set forth in 
nearly eight chapters, embellishing it with 
anecdote, song, joke and pantomime, all in her 
own irresistible way, until the queen was in 
ecstasies. Such a companionable little person 
as Marjorie had probably never come before 
in the Queen of Avaril’s way, and the eyes 
that now watched every motion of the story- 
teller glistened with just as much admiration 
and delight as had the eyes of the children at 
the orphanage. 

“ And so,” she said at last, when the tale was 
all told, “ you have only to wish for a thing 
and it is yours.” 

“ Well, that is not exactly the way of it, 
either. I have wished for many a thing and 
not got it,” Marjorie replied. “ But papa gives 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


91 


me everything he can, so that my aunt says 
that I am spoiled.” 

“ Oh, no, I ’m sure you are not spoiled,” said 
the little queen, with a look of admiration. 
“You are good and kind beyond anyone I 
ever saw. I do n’t wonder that your father 
loves you so much. And you say that he calls 
you Peg } Oh, the funny little name ! ” 

“ Well, that ’s one of his names for me. But 
he calls me by lots of others, too. Sometimes,” 
she went on, with a roguish look at Margaretta, 
“ he calls me Queenie. I like that name the 
best of all.” 

“ I should like it the least,” said poor Mar- 
garetta. 

“ I suppose no one ever called you that.” 

The little queen shook her head, with a 
sigh. 

“ Or Puss, or Mousey, or Dame Trot, or 
Tot, or Dot, or Tiny.? ” 

“ Oh, no, no,” replied Her Majesty. 

Each little girl looked at the other rather 
pensively for a moment, as if trying to realize 


92 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


the life it was hers to lead. It was far easier, 
no doubt, for Marjorie to imagine the life of 
the queen than for the queen to imagine hers. 
Yet somewhat of the sweet familiarity between 
this American girl and her father she gath- 
ered from Marjorie’s story, and she thought 
of her own father (made, according to Hed- 
wig, out of poor men’s coats and dinners), 
who stood so silently on the grand square, 
with never a word, either kind or helpful, for 
her. She wondered if she had a real father 
instead of a statue of one, if he would ever 
have loved her as this little girl was loved. 

Presently she said : “ I suppose you love 
him in return very much.” 

Marjorie looked up, with her eyes full of 
tears. 

“ I should think so. That is why I stole 
into the garden. I hoped that I might see 
you here (though not alone in this lonely 
way) and have a chance to beg you to have 
him set free. And now I know that you will, 
for you are as good as the people say you 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


93 


are, and he has never done anything at all to 
deserve to be made a prisoner.” 

“ I would gladly have him set free if I 
could,” Margaretta answered, but in so doubt- 
ful a tone that Marjorie rather indignantly 
demanded : — 

“ Do you not believe that he is good ? ” 

“Indeed I do,” answered the little queen; 
“ but the duke will not listen to me for a mo- 
ment. He will talk about ‘ reasons of state,’ 
and will tell me that for the present, matters 
of this kind are beyond my understanding. 
I know very well how it will be.” 

“ If I were in your place,” cried Marjorie, 
with spirit, “ I would have him beheaded. 
At the very least, I ’d send him to the Tower.” 

“ I do n’t think I could. He would n’t go. 
I should n’t wish to be ungrateful to him either. 
The countess says that I owe him a great 
deal, and that before she died, my mother 
chose him as my counsellor.” 

“ Well, it seems very queer that a queen 
can ’t do whatever she wishes to do. But I 


94 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


suppose when you are grown up it will be dif- 
ferent. If I were you, I would have the good 
old Nero days back again.” 

“ Oh, no,” cried the queen, who seemed in- 
clined to take things literally. “ I have read 
about Nero in Roman history, and I do n’t 
think he was nice. Why, he was the one 
who fiddled while Rome was burning ! Oh, I 
hope I sha’ n’t be like him.” 

Marjorie looked at the earnest face of the 
baby-queen, and laughed. 

“ Well, I guess you won’t be exactly like 
him.” 

“ Hush ! ” whispered Margaretta. “ Is not 
some one coming } ” 

Both children leaned forward and listened. 
The scrunch of gravel under the foot-fall was 
distinctly audible in a little path leading 
through thick shrubbery into the Whispering 
Avenue. 

“You must go,” said the queen, “or they 
will send you out of the garden, perhaps very 
roughly. I could n’t bear that. Oh, please go.” 



“‘HUSH!’ WHISPERED MARGARETTA.” 




A CHILD OF GLEE 


95 


“Not till you’ve promised to help my 
father,” Marjorie answered, firmly. “ I ’m think- 
ing of papa and I do n’t care what happens 
to me. I ’ll go if you promise to try to get 
him set free.” 

“ I promise. Yes, I promise,” whispered 
Margaretta. “ Quick, or you ’ll be seen.” 

In a twinkling, Marjorie was out of sight 
behind the trees, and none too soon, for al- 
ready the countess came out of the little path 
into the avenue. 

She sat down on the bench and looked 
sharply at Margaretta. 

“ Your Royal Highness has, no doubt, re- 
flected that it is a sovereign’s duty to conquer 
her emotions, and you will be more cheerful 
in future. He who is called upon to rule 
others must first learn to rule himself.” 

The little queen blushed, for she had been 
far enough from reflecting upon the duties of 
sovereigns, and the hour which she had been 
supposed to sit upon the stone bench as upon 
a stool of repentance was one of the most 


96 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


enjoyable that she could remember. How- 
ever, she was extremely reserved by nature, 
and her experience of life had not fostered 
impulsive confidences, so she simply said : — 
“ I will try to be cheerful, madame.” 

The countess, perceiving no trace of tears 
on the queen’s face, was satisfied. 

“ That is well,” she said, “ for the duke de- 
sires an interview with you this afternoon.” 


CHAPTER IX 



HE prime minister’s interview with the 


1 queen took place in the audience cham- 
ber in the palace, a lofty and spacious room, 
having a formal air such as bespoke the grave 
business that was conducted there. The floor 
was beautifully inlaid, the wood dark with age 
and so highly polished as to sharply reflect any 
bright object upon it. Around the walls were 
fine pictures, works of the old masters, and 
the ceiling was decorated with frescos. The 
spaces between the panellings were filled with 
long mirrors which multiplied the beauties and 
size of the room, and, as he walked to the end 
of it where the queen sat, the stately figure of 
the old duke was repeated in them again and 
again until it seemed to Margaretta that an in- 
definite number of imposing prime ministers 
were coming toward her. 

Margaretta was just a little afraid of the 


98 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


duke, and as he stood bowing before her she 
almost regretted having made that promise to 
Marjorie which bound her to intercede in her 
father’s behalf. 

The queen was sitting in a large high-gabled 
chair, with her feet on a foot-stool. If it had 
not been for this prop they must have dangled 
in the air in a most unqueenlike way, for the 
chair was very large and Margaretta small. 
At her right hand was a massive carved table, 
on which were writing materials, a large silver 
inkstand, pen tray and the like, and the duke 
placed some papers on it before he sat down 
on the chair that a servant placed for him op- 
posite the queen. 

The duke began by making inquiries as 
to Her Royal Highness’s health, which, never 
robust, had lately given occasion for alarm. 
He seemed in no great haste to begin upon 
the business which had necessitated this inter- 
view ; for, simple as Margaretta was, she knew 
he had not come to the palace merely to make 
inquiries as to her health. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


99 


The truth was that Margaretta did not 
dread the interview any more than the duke 
himself dreaded it ; but how was she to know 
that ? Every instinct of his heart rebelled 
against the task before him. As has been 
previously stated, he had loved Margaretta’s 
father and grandfather, and now he loved her. 
Not so much, perhaps, as if she had been a 
boy, in which case Duke Otto of Cohentz 
would have no shadow of a claim upon the 
crown of Avaril, and though he could not have 
withdrawn from public life, yet the evening of 
his days would be untroubled by such cares 
and anxieties as pressed so heavily upon him 
now. Yet Margaretta’s sex, youth and help- 
lessness stirred that chivalry that dwells in the 
breast of every true man ; he pitied the royal 
child, realizing that it was not an easy destiny 
that confronted her as Queen of Avaril. 

“Your Majesty has been instructed,” began 
the old minister at last, “ that for reasons of 
state, for the good of the people, personal sacri- 
fices will often be demanded of you. Destiny 


L«rc. 


lOO 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


has placed the happiness of millions of souls 
in your hands — ” 

The duke paused, and Margaretta looked 
curiously down upon those little hands, as if 
she thought they might be holding that great 
burden that he spoke of, like a doll. 

What right, after all, had the nation to so 
fill them, small, soft and helpless as they were ? 
The duke’s face wore an unwonted air of sad- 
ness as, surprised at his silence, Margaretta 
suddenly looked up into it. 

“ Oh, I will be good,” she cried, thinking 
that her uncheerful submission to his decree 
was the cause of his sorrow. “ I will cry no 
more for poor Blanco; I will remember my 
oath. I will always place the nation’s welfare 
before my own happiness, as a good queen 
should.” 

The old duke leaned forward, taking her 
hands in his. 

“ Margaretta,” he said, and his voice was won- 
derfully gentle, the queen thought, “ there is 
something noble in your nature which, no doubt. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


lOI 


you have inherited from your father and your 
father’s father, that I think will ever respond 
to the call of heroic self-sacrifice. But I wish 
to tell you that no one regrets the necessity of 
such sacrifices more than the old man who so 
often demands them of you.” 

For a moment he looked at her silently, then, 
bending his proud old head, he pressed a kiss 
on either pale cheek. 

In a moment, however, he resumed his usual 
manner, and with calm determination went on 
with the matter in hand. This tenderness, 
however, which betrayed the feeling that 
formerly had been unsuspected by her, helped 
Margaretta to bear the trouble that was to 
come. 

This was the removal of old Hedwig from 
the royal palace. 

The old woman was garrulous and foolish, 
talking of what she should not, unwittingly, to 
the young queen’s injury. The measure was 
wise, but its necessity was not apparent to 
little Margaretta. 


102 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ Blanco, and now Hedwig,” she murmured. 

“ Remember that it will be for the woman’s 
good,” said the duke, encouragingly. 

“ Then she is not to be put out of the way 
as Blanco was ? ” 

“ Heaven forbid,” answered the old minister, 
smiling. “ She will return to her native village 
to live with her own people. She will be com- 
fortably pensioned. I have brought with me,” 
he went on, looking toward the table, “ some 
papers on which I must have the royal signa- 
ture and among them is one which makes 
provision for the queen’s nurse. Will Your 
Majesty sign it ? ” 

The shrewd old diplomat was not altogether 
ignorant, it appears, of a child’s heart. Mar- 
garetta, with a faint smile on her little pale 
face, went obediently to the table and stand- 
ing by the duke’s side signed her name in the 
places he indicated. It gave her a pleasant 
feeling of importance that since her coronation 
certain court papers would not be valid with- 
out her signature, and it was a matter of pride 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


103 


that her penmanship should be at its best on 
these, the first documents on which it should 
appear. 

She stood with one leg tightly wound round 
the other, the royal tongue protruding a little, 
and every feature working as she laboriously 
inscribed each letter. 

When Margaretta had written her name in 
full upon all the papers, she sat down again 
rather wearily. 

“Is Your Majesty ill?” asked the duke, 
who was gathering up and tying together the 
documents. 

“ No, Your Grace, but I am very tired,” the 
queen answered. 

He eyed her closely from under frowning 
brows. Margaretta’s bright head lay against 
the high gable of her chair, her face gleaming 
white upon the darkness of the wood. 

Blue circles were under her eyes, and a 
diamond tear or two hung upon her heavy 
lashes. She looked neither well nor happy, 
and her appearance could but remind him of 


104 A CHILD OF GLEE 

the discouraging account the court physician 
had given him of her health. 

Now, all his hopes for Avaril depended upon 
the life of this frail little girl ; for, according 
to the laws of descent, in case of her death, 
the crown would pass to Otto of Cohentz, and 
the interests of this little duchy on the north- 
ern border had always been opposed to her 
own. 

So important, therefore, was the health of 
Margaretta that previously he had determined 
to remove her from Marll in the hope that it 
might be restored by change of air. The plan 
had been given up because of a rumor that the 
Ottoists were scheming to seize the queen’s 
person, but now so urgently did the need of 
some remedy for her press upon him that he 
persuaded himself that with a guard she could 
safely be taken to a certain pleasure palace on 
the sea coast, or to an old castle in the interior, 
where the late king sometimes passed the sum- 
mer months. The choice between these two 
resorts he now left to Margaretta. 


A CHILD OF GLEE IO5 

Unfortunately, the little queen had conceived 
a dislike to both. Moreover, she did not wish 
to leave Marll. In Marll was the garden which, 
as she told him, she loved better than any 
other spot in the world, and though Hedwig 
and Blanco would be there no more, the water- 
fall was left. 

Perhaps it struck the prime minister that a 
child whose only companion and friend is a 
water-fall is very forlorn, for he said, kindly : — 

“ If it is Your Majesty’s wish to remain 
here, that matter is decided, and I wish with 
all my heart that your old nurse could be left 
with you also, but as that is impossible, I beg 
Your Majesty to suggest some way by which 
I can contribute to your pleasure.” 

Margaretta shook her head and sighed. 
She knew that her heart’s desire, which was 
for the natural pleasures of childhood, were 
not for the Queen of Avaril, and such posses- 
sions as a child prizes were already hers. 

If she were minded to amuse herself with 
toys, there was a room in the palace filled 


io6 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


with the most beautiful ones that are made. 
Outside the palace were tennis courts, croquet 
grounds, bowling alleys, and the like. Her 
Majesty had a bicycle and a pet pony, to say 
nothing of the royal coach in which she and 
the countess drove every pleasant afternoon. 
Her boudoir was furnished in the daintiest 
taste, and there she could read her favorite 
books, all bound in white and gold, or she 
could write at a satin-wood desk of exquisite 
workmanship, well fitted up with all such 
articles as are used in writing. Margaretta’s 
notes were written on scented, cream-col- 
ored paper, with the royal arms in crimson 
and gold, and the ink was dried with gold 
dust. 

When they were sealed with the flying 
dragon of Avaril, she had but to ring a bell, 
and a little page in blue and silver would take 
the note on a silver tray to the queen’s private 
messenger, who would jump on his white 
horse and away with it. One sometimes saw 
him clattering through the streets of Marll, 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


107 


now and then blowing a silver trumpet to 
clear the way, as if the missive he bore were 
the most important state document. 

As for personal ornaments, Margaretta’s 
jewel boxes left nothing to be desired. In this 
lovely boudoir was a cunningly wrought cabi- 
net, inlaid with amber and verdegris, musca- 
dine-scented, with numerous cupboards and 
drawers. 

This was filled with valuable trinkets, with 
curious, carved ivory combs, and fans, with 
carved amber in bracelet or amulet. There 
were necklaces of all sorts, little jewelled dag- 
gers, chatelaines, lockets, silver clasps, studded 
with priceless gems, ornaments from India, 
from Egypt and Japan. In this cabinet, too, 
were the magnificent jewels that she had in- 
herited from her mother, — diamonds and em- 
eralds, sapphires and pearls, jewels enough to 
cover from head to foot this little miniature 
queen. No wonder she could only shake her 
head in reply to the duke’s question. Hardly 
had she done so, however, when the thought 


io8 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


flashed upon her that here was the very oppor- 
tunity she desired to ask for the release of 
Marjorie’s father. 

“Your Majesty will honor me with a re- 
quest,” said the duke, with a smile, reading 
the expression of her face aright. 

“ Ah, yes,” answered the little queen. “ I 
have thought of something which would give 
me great pleasure.” 

“ This morning when I was in the garden. 
Your Grace,” she began, “a little girl begged 
me to have her father, who has been impris- 
oned here, set free. She seemed to think that 
because I am the queen I can do this.” 

“ Did she tell you her father’s name } ” 
asked His Grace. 

Margaretta, pronouncing the name of Mar- 
jorie’s father, saw the vexed color spring into 
the duke’s face. 

“ Does Your Majesty know,” he said, “ on 
what charge this man has been imprisoned } 
For treason against the government; therefore 
I am compelled to refuse you, but I trust 


A CHILD OF GLEE IO9 

Your Majesty will prefer another request that 
by good fortune I can grant.” 

But Margaretta, naturally discouraged, shook 
her head, and, notwithstanding the duke’s 
urging, remained silent. Convinced at last of 
the uselessness of persistence, he rose and 
bowed himself out of the royal presence, a 
punctiliousness that seemed but to mock the 
helplessness of the poor young queen. 


CHAPTER X 


M ARGARETTA accepted as final the 
duke’s answer in regard to the Ameri- 
can who had been imprisoned on his arrival at 
MarlL Few persons would be so stupid as to 
believe that the old minister’s yea would ever 
turn into nay, or his nay into yea. She gave 
the matter up, as in duty bound, but after the 
interview was over she wished that she had 
asked permission to send a letter to Marjorie, 
expressing her sorrow and disappointment that 
she could not help her. 

The request might yet be made to the coun- 
tess, but a happy instinct told Margaretta not 
to mention the matter to her. 

To begin with, she would have been very 
indignant that this little girl had presumed to 
speak to the queen, for the countess was a born 
aristocrat, having come of a race as ancient as 
the royal family itself, and she had a horror of 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


, I I I 


what she called the canaille. Undoubtedly she 
would have scouted the idea that by reason of 
being an American, Marjorie was a princess, 
and would have declared that she belonged to 
the masses, — the great thieving, swearing, 
sweating, brutal masses. These are not the 
countess’s adjectives, but such alone as will 
convey her idea of the class to which the 
Westbrooks belonged. 

Up to a certain point the countess had 
complete authority in all matters relating to 
the education of the queen. Sometimes she 
attempted to go beyond that point or some- 
times the boundary line did not seem clearly 
made out, when there would be a terrible con- 
flict between her and the prime minister. It 
would be open war, for the countess had no 
talent for diplomacy. It was for that reason 
that she seldom got her own way. Von Bourn 
not being a man to be browbeaten into a meas- 
ure by a woman, — an ugly one at that, heaven 
save the mark! 

Though of an imposing figure, the face of 


I 12 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


the old countess was plain to a degree. In 
truth, it was of such exaggerated ugliness, with 
eyes sunken beneath scraggy brows, with 
boldly projecting nose and chin, the point of 
the nose turning downward, the chin upward, 
and a patch of bright crimson on the high 
cheek bones, as to make it seem like an ugly 
mask. 

Margaretta’s first governess had been Eng- 
lish, and for the first five years of her life she 
spoke entirely in the English language. Then 
a Erenchwoman, Madame de la Grange, had 
taken the place of the English one, though the 
latter still remained at the palace. 

Of all her numerous instructors — indeed, of 
all the ladies of the royal household — there 
was not one for whom the queen had such 
affection as she had for Madame. 

The French governess was the very opposite 
in every respect of the Countess of Barnstetter. 
She was amiable, sympathetic, sensible, witty, 
and possessed of that tact which conquers 
alike high and low. No one ever suspected 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


II3 

her of aspiring to influence the powers that be. 
Yet, this dark, plain, rather dumpy little 
woman (possessed, however, of a power of fas- 
cination which more than offset her plainness 
and her dumpiness) had effected many a meas- 
ure that Von Bourn and the countess imagined 
had its origin in their own fertile brains. She 
played one off against the other in a way that 
was masterly. Dozens of poor young men had 
found their way to good governmental posi- 
tions through the scheming of this clever lady, 
and many a pretty girl was presented at court 
to the wonder of every one but Madame. 

In books, persons with this sort of ability 
usually figure as villains and get all the hard 
names, but Madame’s heart was in the right 
place, and she had accomplished a deal of good 
in her day. 

She was no aristocrat ; her sympathies went 
out to the whole human race, irrespective of 
one’s position in society, and she abhorred the 
etiquette of the court. Of a truth, the royal 
palace at Marll was unspeakably dull, and 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


II4 

’t is no wonder that she longed for her gay 
Paree. 

It was to Madame that Margaretta at last 
confided the story that Marjorie had told her 
and the prime minister’s refusal of her request. 
Madame listened with sympathy, which was all 
Margaretta looked for, never dreaming that 
she had any power to help her. 

The apathetic little queen became quite 
excited in describing the incident, which in 
reality was quite as much out of the common 
course of things for her as for Marjorie. So 
clever, so amusing a creature, she averred, it 
had never been her good fortune to meet. 

“ Ah me ! ” cried Margaretta, in a rueful tone, 
“ I am sure that she is never taken to task for 
moping, but then, — but then she is not a 
queen^ 

“ Pauvre petite reine ! ” murmured the 
Frenchwoman, thinking that were she the 
countess. Her August Majesty would soon be 
cured of moping. As it was, — Madame 
shrugged her shoulders. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


^^5 

As the desire to help the royal child grew 
in her heart, a plan grew also in her brain, and 
she but waited her time. Happily, it was not 
long in coming. 

It happened that one day, on meeting her by 
accident in one of the antechambers of the 
palace, the duke bethought him that in the 
matter of the queen’s health the ideas of a 
woman who had reared eight children of her 
own into robust manhood or womanhood might 
be more serviceable than those of the childless 
countess. In fact, the remedies the countess 
had suggested had all been tried in vain, as 
had those also of divers eminent physicians; 
and now he turned to Madame for help, reas- 
suring himself with the thought of those 
sturdy sons and daughters who called her 
mamma. 

“ The account Dr. Worden gives of the 
queen’s condition is not encouraging,” he 
began. “ What, in Madame’s opinion, is the 
cause of Her Majesty’s ill health ? ” 

“ The life she leads is not healthful. Nature 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


1 16 

will not be tricked into making a woman of a 
child,” Madame answered promptly, overjoyed 
at the opportunity fate had given her. “ The 
queen droops, for at eleven years of age. Your 
Grace, we need diversion.” 

“ Undoubtedly, Madame, but has not every 
means of amusement that has ever been devised 
for a child been provided for the queen ? ” 

“ What the queen needs is an amusing play- 
fellow ; not another dog to remind her of the 
one she grieves for, but something new and 
funny, — a parrot, a flying squirrel, a little 
monkey, but preferably a little monkey of the 
human kind. Ah, Your Grace, a child of her 
own age would cure the queen.” 

The duke frowned. He did not wish to 
explain the jealousy and ill feeling of the noble 
families which would make the choice from one 
of them of a companion for the queen a most 
delicate matter. Madame, however, knew per- 
fectly well what was in his mind. She had not 
studied the politics of Avaril for nothing. She 
smiled her slow and irresistible smile as she 
continued : — 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


II7 

“ A child of the people, I mean, who knows 
well how to romp, who will make the queen 
forget, for a time, the formalities of the court, 
which are benumbing all her energies, which 
have checked the overflow of vital power so 
natural to her age. If the evil influence con- 
tinues longer, I do not doubt that her health 
will be too seriously impaired to make recovery 
possible. It is most fortunate for Queen Mar- 
garetta that Your Grace has recognized the 
true nature of her malady in time, — that it is 
mental rather than physical.” 

Madame bowed. Her manner was perfect, 
so innocent and gracious, so entirely without 
conceit, so deferential, in fact, that the duke 
was impressed with the belief that he himself 
had discovered the cause of the queen’s illness. 

“But this little companion, — a child from 
the masses, a peasant, a gipsy, what would the 
countess say to such a child introduced into 
the royal palace ? ” he asked. 

Madame shrugged her shoulders. 

“ It is true the question of caste is very 


I 1 8 A CHILD OF GLEE 

important to the countess ; but a little girl, so 
humble, will hardly seem to her to belong to 
the human family, any more than would the 
parrot or the monkey. She will never be seen 
by the queen or the countess except in the gar- 
den. Above all, she will never be seen with 
Her Majesty in public. Her existence will 
hardly be suspected, and will be the subject of 
no remark. That is,” said Madame, “if Your 
Grace does me the honor to leave the matter in 
my hands.” 

“ It could be entrusted to none more able,” 
said the duke, bowing low ; for he recognized 
a fellow diplomat in the French governess. 

He was not ill-pleased that she should man- 
age the countess, and he did not realize that 
she had also managed the prime minister. 


CHAPTER XI 



HE little girls at the orphanage were fold- 


1 ing up their work, and upon nearly two 
hundred samplers the letter R was embroid- 
ered daintily enough for the queen’s own linen. 
While the girls worked, the teacher in charge 
imparted to them a vast amount of informa- 
tion, for these were the most highly instructed 
orphans in the world. Sleep, for them, was 
the only escape from exercises for the acquire- 
ment of knowledge. Even at meal-time the 
wheel never stopped, and a new dish was a new 
lesson, in which they must learn about every- 
thing that entered into its composition. 

The queen’s orphans were not of the poorest 
class, but for the most part were children of 
teachers in the schools, of clergymen, and the 
like, and you would know that they were by their 
aptitude in these intellectual exercises. There 
was Adelaide, for instance, who would seize a 


120 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


new fact as a dog does a bone, carry it off to 
some spot where she could struggle with it un- 
observed, burying any remaining portion in a 
safe hiding place, to which she would repair 
again and again until the whole had become 
part and parcel of herself. Many of these 
girls belonged to that rather rare type called 
thoughtful children. They would sit quietly 
for a long time, lost in meditation, as it ap- 
peared, and then propound some deep ques- 
tion. 

Being very imitative, and also of the convic- 
tion that when in Rome you should do as the 
Romans do, Marjorie now and then tried her 
hand in this sort. Conquering her natural 
restlessness, she would sit with her cheek in 
her hand, her eyes gazing intently upon va- 
cancy. Then sighing deeply, she would look 
up and ask some such question as : — 

“Why do leaves grow on trees instead of 
trees on leaves ? ” 

Alas, she was not profound, poor Marjorie. 

After the samplers were put away the 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


I2I 


children all went out into the playground, 
a great square space surrounded by prim 
lime trees, that somehow or other had the 
effect of being charity-orphan lime trees. Be- 
cause it was recreation time it should not 
be inferred that they were to be left to 
themselves, for their games were often con- 
ducted by some older person in such a way as 
to instil more information into their crowded 
little heads. 

Some of the children now arranged them- 
selves as the bodies of our solar system. A 
golden-haired little maid represented the sun, 
and eight others revolved around her, represent- 
ing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Sat- 
urn, Uranus and Neptune. It was very clev- 
erly done, for each child kept the true orbit of 
her planet; that is, the relative distance from 
the sun, and, also, at the same time revolved 
upon her own axis. Around each planet re- 
volved smaller children, as moons or satellites. 
It fairly made one dizzy to look at them. 

Other children grouped themselves as stars 


122 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


in the signs of the zodiac, in Vega, the Harp, 
the Great Bear, the Dipper, those star-outlined 
figures that we love to trace at night on the mys- 
terious roof of our great world-house. Those 
children who were too young or too stupid to 
place themselves with the necessary exactness 
in the constellations became stars in the Milky 
Way, which crossed the schoolyard with a 
grand sweep, and these had no part to play 
other than to bob continually up and down in 
the fashion of people in bathing, — to give the 
impression of twinkling, perhaps. 

As this was visitors’ day, and the Queen’s 
Orphanage was a very popular charity, a good 
many persons were looking on from under the 
lime trees. There was a constant murmur 
among them and such exclamations as : — 

“How charming! How very pretty! and 
so instructive, you know. What an admirable 
charity ! ” 

As to the spectacle being a pretty one, the 
visitors were quite right about that. Imagine 
three hundred little boys and girls, serious lit- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


123 


tie blonde creatures mostly, in quaint cos- 
tumes and with perfect order, forming these 
figures upon the dark green of the shady play- 
ground. 

As long as Marjorie lived, whenever she 
thought of the heavenly bodies, she would re- 
call this scene, and often in her own dear 
country when she was no longer a child, at 
least in years, she would look up into that 
starry universe, that, with its beauty and mys- 
tery, awes even the gay Marjories of this life, 
and say : — 

“ Poor, learned little orphans, where in this 
great world are they all wandering now ? ” 

And she would comfort herself with the 
thought that He who keeps the stars each in 
its own safe orbit will keep us every one in 
ours, and that we can never wander beyond 
the reach of His knowledge and law. 

The children danced to a little jig-like tune, 
singing rhymes which neatly summed up their 
astronomical knowledge. Sometimes those 
rhymes were in their own language, but more 


124 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


often they were in French or English. For in- 
stance, the children forming the signs of the 
zodiac sang the lines so familiar to English- 
speaking children all over the world : — 

“ The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins, 

And next the Crab the Lion shines. 

The Virgin, and the Scales. 

The Scorpion, Archer, and He-goat, 

The man that bears the watering pot, 

And Fish with glittering scales,” 

which they pronounced very queerly. 

“The Scorpion, Archer, and He-goat, 

The man that bears the watering poat^' 

in particular sent Marjorie into fits of laugh- 
ter. 

Although the game was pretty, it was ex- 
tremely monotonous, and after awhile Mar- 
jorie slipped out of the Milky Way to talk to 
Adelaide, who, as monitor, was stationed at the 
edge of the playground. 

“ Do n’t you think,” she said, “ the game 
would be nicer if Earth, or Neptune, or one 
of those stupid planets should run away and 
have to be chased back again by the constel- 
lations and the stars of the Milky Way 1 ” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


125 


“ They could n’t, you know,” answered the 
wise Adelaide. “ They are all held in place 
by gravitation.” 

“ What is that ? ” asked Marjorie. 

“ Did you never hear of the law of gravita- 
tion ? ” asked Adelaide, much shocked. “ Then 
I must try to tell you about it.” 

“ No, no. Please do n’t tell me, Adelaide ; at 
least, not now, I do so hate to mix lessons 
with play. Maybe I could stand it if play 
was mixed with lessons, but somehow they 
never seem to give us that mixture, do 
they?” 

“ You had better go back and twinkle in the 
Milky Way,” advised Adelaide. “ The matron 
is looking at you.” 

“ Well, I ’m not too good to be looked at,” 
Marjorie answered, jauntily. “ Who is that 
lady, Adelaide, who is with her, and who seems 
to be looking at me, too ? ” 

“Why, it’s Madame la Grange, the French 
governess of the queen. I wonder what she 
has come here for?” said Adelaide; then 


126 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


recollecting that the actions of such high, or, 
at least, comparatively high, persons did not 
concern Marjorie and herself, she immediately 
added : “ You had better go right back to your 
place in the Milky Way.” 

“ But I am so tired of twinkling,” Marjorie 
objected. “ Have we got to go on playing 
this — if you call it play — as long as the vis- 
itors are here } I do wish they would go. 
Why, Adelaide, I do believe that the matron is 
bringing the queen’s governess here.” 

“ Go and twinkle ; oh, do go and twinkle ! ” 
whispered Adelaide, in agony. 

“ No, I won’t twinkle. I ’m going to be a 
comet.” 

And so saying, Marjorie started off at full 
speed, her hair flying, her arms whirling, and 
her long, full-skirted frock blowing out in the 
breeze. Away she ran, dashing through con- 
stellation after constellation, even ruthlessly 
destroying our own solar system, then back 
through the Milky Way, straight into the arms 
of the horrified matron. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


127 


The heavenly bodies were completely disor- 
ganized by this unparalleled proceeding in the 
game, and gathered around her, open-eyed, as 
she stood panting in the matron’s firm grasp. 

“ Why do you behave so ? ” the matron asked, 
reproachfully. “ You promised me to be good.” 

“ But as this is only a game, what ’s the 
harm ? ” Marjorie cried, sadly puzzled by the 
circumspection expected of one in play-time. 

“You see how it is, Madame,” said the 
matron, turning to the queen’s governess, who 
stood beside her, looking on with bright brown 
eyes. “You now see for yourself that what I 
told you is true. Do you dare to try the 
experiment you spoke of ? I would advise you 
to make a different choice. There is Adelaide, 
for instance — ” 

Madame’s eyes followed those of the speaker, 
which rested upon the prim figure of the mon- 
itor, and she shook her head. Then she put 
her hand on the shoulder of the culprit, 
saying : — 

“ Let me talk with this one a moment. I 
can soon decide.” 


128 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Madame drew Marjorie to a seat under one 
of the lime trees, and when they were quite 
alone she said : — 

“ I have brought you a message from the 
queen, ma petiter 

“ Then my father is free,” exclaimed Mar- 
jorie, jumping up and clapping her hands. 

“ No. The queen can do nothing for your 
father, — that ’s an affair of state — ” 

She would have explained further, but Mar- 
jorie cried out, impatiently : — 

“ A queen, — a queen, and cannot do a little 
thing like that. Why did they proclaim her a 
queen and give her all those' high titles, if she 
really is of no account at all } ” 

“ Chut, petite drble ! Remember you are 
not in the Tand of the free.’ Use thy good 
sense, and consider that at eleven years one 
is not able to steer the ship of state. Come 
now, let us forget about all that. If he is 
innocent of the charge for which he has been 
arrested, your papa will be liberated. In that 
case, I am sure he has no fears for himself. If 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 29 

he worries, it is about his ch'ere petite fille, — 
n 'est-ce pas ? ” 

Marjorie was forced to admit that this was 
probably the case. 

“Yes, yes. I know that is so,” she said, 
soberly. “He fears, no doubt, that I will get 
myself into trouble, and, indeed, it is difficult 
for me to be patient and obedient, — to be, in 
fact, like them.” 

She waved her hand toward the orphans, 
reassembled into the figures of the constella- 
tions and moving puppet-like in their so-called 
game. 

“ They are always like that,” she went on. 
“They cannot really play. Yesterday I 
thought we would have a fine time playing 
coronation, but, Madame, you should have seen 
them. I was the queen; they would have 
it so, and Adelaide was the prime minister. 
That is Adelaide, Madame, on the edge of 
the playground, and indeed, you should have 
seen her. Instead of holding herself like 
this,” — here Marjorie stood up with her back 


130 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


straight, her stomach out, and her chin high 
in the air, by some strange magic succeeding 
with every inch of her body in suggesting the 
proud old diplomat, — “ and instead of walking 
like this,” she continued (assuming the very 
gait of the prime minister, moving her head 
stiffly from side to side, as if looking upon 
crowds of people with a glance that said, “ off 
with his head ”), “ Adelaide would look so"' 

And now Marjorie suddenly became the 
very meekest of little charity girls, with a 
creep-mouse air and meek eyes which seemed 
to say, “ Please, marm, excuse me for being 
alive.” 

“ Vraiment, the little American will soon 
cure the queen of her melancholy,” thought 
Madame. “ Come, come,” she said aloud, “ you 
have not heard the queen’s message.” 

Marjorie sat down again upon the bench, de- 
claring dismally : — 

“ If she is not going to help papa, I do n’t 
care for her message.” 

“ But your papa must be pleased to have 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


I3I 

you leave the orphanage,” Madame persisted. 
“ Ecoutez^ mon enfa7it, I have come to take 
you to the royal palace. The little queen’s 
spirits droop and a playfellow has been pre- 
scribed.” 

“To take me to the royal palace.^ ” Marjorie 
naturally exclaimed. “ Why, I should n’t know 
how one is expected to behave there.” 

“ I will instruct you as to that ; you will do 
very well,” Madame assured her. 

“ I always wished to know what palaces are 
like, and I ’ve no doubt it would be great fun, 
but you see, while papa is obliged to stay in 
a prison, I should n’t enjoy myself much in a 
palace.” 

Madame nodded her head slowly twice or 
thrice, as if with a thorough understanding of 
Marjorie’s feeling. She took one of the little 
girl’s hands in hers, and seemed all sympathy 
and affection. 

“Quite natural, my child, but foolish. We 
know that le bon papa will be happier when 
you are no longer a member of this excellent 


132 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


establishment. Mon Dieu, it is not the place 
for a child as eccentric as a comet.” 

“ But is the palace 1 ” enquired Marjorie, 
laughing. 

“ How sharp you are, little one,” cried 
Madame, laughing and pinching Marjorie’s 
chin. “ Liberties are always allowed to the 
king’s jester. Come, come, my child, I assure 
you that you will do very well.” 

In short, she was so reassuring on this point 
and set forth so eloquently the need the queen 
had of just such a companion, that at last Mar- 
jorie consented to go with her to the palace. 


CHAPTER XII 



HEN Marjorie was first introduced into 


V V that august circle, Queen Margaretta 
and her suite were sitting on the upper terrace 
of the palace garden. No doubt it was as awk- 
ward a moment as she had ever experienced, 
but she followed Madame’s instructions to the 
letter and was at last duly installed in office 
as playfellow-in-chief to the queen. 

On the very instant, however, that it became 
Marjorie’s bounden duty to amuse she felt as 
dull, — well, as dull as one of the court ladies 
herself, which is to say, as dull as any one 
could possibly be. Adelaide herself could 
have been no duller. 

Save by the queen and Madame, she was re- 
garded much as if she were indeed some 
strange, fantastic being of another, and prob- 
ably lower, order of creation, and perhaps 
Marjorie, on her part, had a feeling that these 


134 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


elegant and languid persons, who looked at her 
so curiously, were unrelated to the great hu- 
man family to which she herself belonged. 

The queen’s suite was grouped in an irregu- 
lar semicircle in the cool blue shadow of the 
palace, their light or richly colored garments 
glowing against the sombre gray color of the 
stone. Beyond, in the shimmer of the sunshine, 
lay the lovely palace garden, and over all 
spread the deep blue of the sky, whereon 
floated soft white clouds, as stately as swans. 

In the centre of the semicircle were two 
high-backed arm-chairs, one occupied by the 
little white-robed queen, as sweet and pure as 
the lilies that grew in ranks along the terraces. 
In the other sat the old countess, setting off by 
her withered face, with its mirthless black eyes, 
and her sombre-hued drapery, the fairness and 
freshness of Margaretta. 

On a low bench on the left of the queen 
they had placed Marjorie. She had been at- 
tired by Madame in a costume so gay and fan- 
tastic as to indicate in itself the part the 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


135 


wearer was to play. Her dress was made of 
some thin, silky stuff of dark blue, with a bor- 
der of bright colors around the hem, and a soft 
dull-red sash, with little bells on the ends, tied 
across the hips. This Frenchy costume was 
finished by a cap of dark blue with a red 
aigrette, which was perched as daintily on 
Marjorie’s head as a bird on the topmost 
branch of a tree. Madame and the English 
governess, a sentimental-looking lady in pink 
attire, who had been reading from a book of 
poems in her native language, sat on the one 
side of the countess, and at the opposite end 
of the half-circle were the two ladies-of-honor. 
The first of these was a lovely blonde in deli- 
cate green, whose slim white fingers were 
twanging a harp. The other was a dark 
beauty, her black eyes and rich complexion set 
off by a wonderful amber-colored gown, the 
long train curling beyond the shadow-edge 
into the sunshine, and against that amber 
background glistened the iridescent plumes 
of a peacock. 


136 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


When Lady Wilhelmina sang, which she 
did in a sweet, feeble voice, one hardly dared 
breathe lest it might overpower the music, and 
her repertoire was limited, for it is difficult to 
find many songs in which there are neither 
high notes nor low ones. Sometimes the Eng- 
lish governess read or recited in her native 
language, which was understood by all the 
court, but it must be confessed that the Queen 
of Avaril’s suite was not an amusing company. 
One’s mind was too much occupied by the 
rules of etiquette, and then the countess dis- 
approved of wit. 

Madame used often to say (of course to her- 
self) : “ Alas ! to laugh is dangerous for aristo- 
crats. It makes one human.” 

The countess thought that laughter was vul- 
gar, and said it should be suppressed in society, 
like sneezing. 

Although her fastidiousness made conversa- 
tion difficult, in deference to her idea of pro- 
priety, the ball must be kept rolling, and that 
is probably the reason why so many stupid 
speeches were made by Margaretta’s ladies. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 37 

There had been an awkward halt in the 
conversation after Marjorie had taken her 
place at Margaretta’s side, and the ladies be- 
gan to look anxious. Then the English gov- 
erness, waving her hand toward the garden, 
exclaimed : — 

“ Ah, what is so rare as a day in June ? ” 

As her eyes were fixed upon the stranger, — 
probably from curiosity, — Marjorie believed 
the question had been addressed to herself, and 
after a moment’s reflection, replied : — 

“ Why, another ddij in June, I suppose.” 

“ Quite right,” said the countess, “ but con- 
undrums are vulgar. I never guessed one in 
my life. In truth, in my young days they 
were never asked by persons of refinement, 
but, dear me, times are changed. Altogether 
too much latitude is allowed in conversation 
now, I think.” 

“ I always disliked latitude,” observed the 
English governess, eager to reinstate herself 
in the good opinion of the countess. 

“ The world and even the courts of Europe 


138 A CHILD OF GLEE 

have degenerated,” went on the old aristocrat. 
“ Persons of the lower class have squeezed in 
because of their wealth or because they were 
geniuses ! mere geniuses ! ” 

“ How shocking ! ” murmured Lady Wilhel- 
mina. 

“ And the tradespeople are growing even 
more mercenary. They no longer care to give 
you a good article for your money. Therefore, 
nothing that one uses is as good as it used to 
be.” 

“ Alas, yes,” assented Madame, her brown 
eyes twinkling. '' Les miroirs, pour exemple, 
I have observed, as you say, they grow uglier 
each year.” 

The countess, who disliked jokes of this 
sort, now observed that the sun made her head 
ache, and she should retire to her own apart- 
ments. Before leaving the circle, however, she 
bade the queen take a walk in the garden, or- 
dering Marjorie to attend her. 

When the children were safely hidden by 
the trees from the upper terrace, Marjorie put 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


139 


her arm around the queen’s waist, and Marga- 
retta’s arm slipped as naturally around Mar- 
jorie’s neck as if she had had playmates all 
her life. 

They might have been two little girls in 
Biddeford coming from school. 

“ Ah me,” said the little queen, in ecstasy, 
“ how did it ever happen that you got to the 
palace ? ” 

“ I do n’t know,” Marjorie answered, laugh- 
ing, “ except that Madame came to the orphan- 
age for me and brought me here.” 

“ But it ’s nice,'’ said the queen, as if that was 
reason enough why it should not have oc- 
curred. “ Nothing like it ever happened be- 
fore.” 

“ And I have so many things to tell and to 
ask you that I did n’t have a chance for the 
last time I was here.” 

“ Tell me one of them right now,” begged 
Margaretta. 

“ Well, do you know that you and I have 
the same birthday. Is n’t that strange ? ” 


140 A CHILD OF GLEE 

The queen nodded and laughed. 

“ It almost makes us relations. It ’s as good 
as being second cousins at the very least.” 

“ I do n’t know that I should be glad that 
you were born under my sign,” Margaretta said. 
“ Hedwig says that it ’s a very unfortunate 
sign.” 

“ Hedwig is greatly mistaken then, for I ’m 
always lucky. People are always telling me 
that I was born under a lucky star, and as you 
were born on the same day, of course yours 
must be lucky, too.” 

“ How are you lucky } ” asked Margaretta. 

“ Oh, well, papa is so good to me, and we go 
about so much, and something is always hap- 
pening. I should n’t like to jog-trot along al- 
ways in the same way. Even the trouble we 
have had here in Avaril will seem amusing 
when it ’s over, papa says.” 

“ Did he say that } ” the little queen cried in 
surprise. 

“ Yes, before he went off with the gendarmes, 
you know, and he told me to be patient, for it 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


I4I 

would all come out right in the end, and above 
all, not to be a coward, and I won’t, not if they 
burn me at the stake,” cried Marjorie, val- 
iantly. 

“ I ’m sure of that,” said the little queen, 
kissing her. 

“ But of all the queer things that have ever 
happened to me, this is the queerest, — being 
kissed by a queen and ” (returning the caress) 
“ kissing one.” 

So long and heartily Marjorie laughed that 
Margaretta joined in, but long before her com- 
panion had ceased to amuse herself with this 
joke (for it was always Marjorie’s way to make 
the most of one), she became serious again. 

“ I suppose a great many things happen to 
people if they are not queens,” she said, when 
Marjorie’s hilarity was over. 

“ Papa says that I have had an unusually 
checkered career,” Marjorie replied. “ I do n’t 
suppose there is a girl in Biddeford that has 
ever had anything happen to her at all like 
this that is happening to me now. It ’s very 
strange.” 


142 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


A sense of the unreality of all around her 
swept over Marjorie. The figure of the queen 
seemed to grow dimmer and dimmer until she 
feared it would vanish altogether. Was there 
really and truly any such place as Avaril ? 
She might have believed her recent experiences 
a strange dream, if Margaretta’s hand had not 
suddenly been placed on her knee, while she 
asked with convincing distinctness for a de- 
scription of the events that had made Mar- 
jorie’s career so remarkable. 

“ The first adventure that I can remember 
happened a great while ago,” Marjorie began, 
with her usual good humor. “ I was at Ken- 
nebunkport with my aunt, and I ran down to 
the wharf to play. There was a ship about to 
sail, and how I ever got on it without being 
seen, I do n’t know, but anyhow I did, and was 
carried off to sea by a lot of jolly old tars, — 
sailors, you know. They were bound for Nova 
Scotia and I had the loveliest voyage you can 
imagine, for they were all devoted to me. I 
was obeyed as if I were a ’queen, or rather a 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


143 


prime minister. They told me perfectly lovely 
stories that just made my hair stand on end. 
If I thought of one of those ghastly tales at 
night I had only to scream and one of the sail- 
ors would come and sit by me and make me 
forget it. How ? Oh, by telling me another 
that was worse. I gave the people at home a 
great scare that time.” 

“ I should think so,” said Margaretta, striv- 
ing, not very successfully, to imagine what such 
an adventure would be like. “ I hope you 
did n’t meet with any storms.” 

“ Did n’t we, though ? A terrible one struck 
us the second day out.” 

“ And were n’t you frightened ? ” 

“ Oh, a little at first,” she replied, passing 
lightly over the terror of that time. “ You 
must remember it was n’t a steamer that we 
were in, but a sailing vessel, a schooner, per- 
haps. The sailors told me there was n’t a bit 
of danger. They wrapped me up in tarpaulin 
and took me on deck, because I was sick in 
the little cabin. And after awhile I got over 


144 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


being afraid of the storm and liked it. My, 
how we dashed over the great waves that 
every now and then washed the deck. Oh, it 
was splendid ! I felt like a — like a — ” 

“ An eagle,” suggested the queen, who was 
listening, with eyes as big as saucers. 

“Well, an eagle,” said Marjorie. “At all 
events, something that ’s very bold and dash- 
ing, and not at all like a frightened, seasick 
girl. It seemed as if there was n’t anything 
in the world but winds and waves.” 

“ Yes, that was a truly delightful adventure,” 
Marjorie said, having listened to Margaretta’s 
comments. “ The next thing I did was to run 
away with a circus troupe. At that time my 
great ambition was to dance on the tight-rope, 
and I was awfully in love with the bear-tamer. 
I admired him more than any person I had 
ever seen.” 

“ I should have supposed he would have 
been rather an ignorant person,” interposed 
the queen, whose little brain was whirling. 

“He wasn’t ignorant about bear-taming. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 45 

And my, was n’t he a big fellow, and handsome. 
His chest was as wide as thaC Marjorie 
stopped in the middle of the path and stretched 
her arms apart as far as they would go. “ His 
voice was as deep as a giant’s, and he rolled 
his r’s so when he talked, you might fancy it 
was thunder.” 

“Well, go on,” said the queen. “What 
next } ” 

“ I can ’t go on, because our caravan was 
overtaken by the police,” said Marjorie, laugh- 
ing. “Wasn’t it a shame? And the circus 
people got into trouble for taking me off, 
which I never did think was fair, for I was as 
anxious to go with them as they were to have 
me. But perhaps it was just as, well for me, 
as I believe I should have got tired of the bear- 
tamer. You see, in the caravan, I found out 
that his breath smelled horribly of onions. I 
never could stand that.” 

“ Of course, after we came abroad, I had 
many more adventures, but I never had any 
other as good as this. Fancy, yesterday I 


146 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


was a charity orphan and to-day I ’m a resi- 
dent of the royal palace and playfellow to the 
queen.” She gave Margaretta a little hug. 
“ But there is one thing that has happened to 
you that has never happened to me. I have 
never been crownedr 

“ If you were, ’t would be the last adventure 
you would ever have,” said the little queen, 
dryly. 

Marjorie shook her head, laughing. 

“ I should travel about incog. Royal per- 
sons do that sometimes. There was Peter the 
Great — of Russia, you know. It was when he 
was travelling incog, that he first saw the em- 
press, only she was a washerwoman then and 
not an empress. I ’m very fond of history. 
It ’s my favorite study, but I like the parts 
about kings and queens, — not battles. Do 
you intend,” said Marjorie, lowering her voice 
and leaning eagerly forward, for they were now 
both seated upon the stone bench by the water- 
fall, “do you think you will make war very 
often 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 47 

After a moment’s reflection Margaretta de- 
clared her preference for a peaceful reign. 

“ But you know,” she said, “ I may have to, 
for I have sworn to defend the independence 
and the territory of my dominion.” 

“Yes, I suppose so,” Marjorie assented, 
rather absently. She was looking at the queen 
in a ruminating way, with her finger on her 
lip. Presently she turned discreetly away 
from her, and said : — 

“ Does n’t it make you feel a little, — just a 
little nervous, when you read about Charles the 
First and Marie Antoinette ” 

“ Why, no ; why should it ? ” asked Margar- 
etta. 

“ Well, you know they were beheaded by 
their subjects.” 

“ That does n’t make me nervous, for I am 
much beloved by my subjects,” Margaretta 
replied, with a confidence that Marjorie sus- 
pected was founded upon the assurances of 
her ladies-in-waiting. “ Besides, I shall rule 
wisely. That is why I am studying the Avaril 


148 A CHILD OF GLEE 

code, — which is very stupid. But, as the duke 
says, ‘ one is not born a queen simply to 
amuse one’s self.’ I shall place the welfare of 
my subjects before my own happiness. It 
seems hard, but, after all, it is better to 
make others happy than to be happy one’s 
self.” 

“ I suppose the duke tells you that also. 
Well, I am changing my mind a good deal 
since I came to Avaril. I would n't be a queen 
if a whole nation were to get on its knees and 
beg me.” 

Marjorie snapped her fingers in the imagin- 
ary face of a supplicating nation. Then turn- 
ing to the queen she stroked her little pale 
cheek, and said : — 

“ What is it that kings sometimes do when 
they get tired of reigning ? Oh, I know ; they 
abdicate. That is what you had better do. 
Abdicate and hand the crown over to the great 
Boom Boom, telling him that it ’s the big- 
gest sort of a nuisance, but it’s better to 
make others happy than to be happy one’s 
self.” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


149 


“ And do kings and queens really ever 
abdicate ? I do not remember reading of 
any who have done so,” said the little 
queen. 


CHAPTER XIII 


M ARGARETTA settled herself more 
comfortably upon the stone seat, as if 
with the expectation of listening to a long list 
of abdicating sovereigns. As Marjorie could 
think of but one she wisely made the most she 
could of him. 

“ Did Your Majesty never read,” she began, 
“of Charles the Fifth of Spain He was a 
very great emperor who gave up all his king- 
doms to his son. Yes, kingdoms ; for he had, 
as you might say, crowns to burn. First he 
surrendered his territories in the Low Countries, 
for in those days the Netherlands belonged to 
Spain. This he did at the council at Brussels. 
On one side of him stood his son Philip and on 
the other side his sister Mary, who had been 
regent over the country, and Charles recounted 
all the great things which he had done for the 
good of his subjects, which seems rather silly of 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


I5I 

him. He said he had lived just for their hap- 
piness and welfare, and he told them how many 
times, either in their wars or on other business, 
he had been obliged to go to Spain, England, 
Italy, the Low Countries and Africa, and that 
he never had had any time to rest and enjoy 
himself. He said he was all worn out, and, 
therefore, he was going to pass the crown on 
to his son'and retire to a monastery. Then he 
turned to Philip, declaring that he gave him 
this crown (that was such a lot of trouble) as an 
extraordinary proof of affection, and Philip was 
to show his gratitude by faithful devotion to 
the people. And he commanded him to be 
a good, bigoted Catholic, which Philip always 
was. After that he resigned to him also the 
crowns of Spain, with all the Spanish posses- 
sions, both in Europe and America (though 
his daughter Joanna was regent while Philip 
was away at the war), reserving for himself only 
a little pension. If I were in Your Majesty’s 
place,” Marjorie interrupted herself to advise, 
“ I should keep a good fat, comfortable one, for 


152 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


I do n’t suppose you intend to imitate Charles 
so far as to retire from the world. The world, 
if you haven’t a crown, is a very agreeable 
place, very, and the more money you have I 
suppose the more agreeable it would be.” 

“ I cannot imitate him in anything,” said the 
queen, who had been listening with dreamy 
eyes. “ Y ou see he was worn out with his long 
reign and all the good he had done, but I have 
never done anything at all yet for my subjects. 
Besides, I ’ve no son to leave my crown to.” 

“Well, I wouldn’t want to leave such a 
bothersome thing to my son if I had one. 
I do n’t think that would be a very motherly 
act. I told Your Majesty what to do with 
your crown.” 

“ What did Charles do next ? ” asked Mar- 
garetta, smiling and gently shaking her head. 
“ Do you remember 1 ” 

“ Oh, yes, I ’ve read about it many a time in 
three musty-looking, big black books that my 
grandfather has in a secretary with glass doors, 
in his old farmhouse in Maine. What did 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


153 


Charles do next? He started with a great 
retinue for Spain. He had with him a lot of 
major-domos, physicians, chamberlains, and I 
do n’t know what all, whom he intended to take 
to the monastery to wait on him ; for he evi- 
dently had no notion of grubbing along like a 
common monk. 

“ When he landed in Spain he was said to 
prostrate himself upon the earth, and ex- 
claim : — 

“ ‘ Oh, thou common Mother of mankind, 
naked came I from thy bosom, and naked I re- 
turn to it.’ 

“ I think I should leave out this part, too. 
He must have looked rather silly, but he was 
really in a very humble frame of mind, for 
when he was invited by the Queen of England 
to rest himself in her country on his way from 
the Netherlands to Spain, he refused, saying 
that it would n’t be very agreeable to the queen 
to receive a visit from a father-in-law who was 
only a private gentleman.” 

“ Which queen was that ? ” asked Margar- 
etta. 


154 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ It was Bloody Mary. The one who 
burned so many heretics, as she called us poor 
Protestants. They say,” Marjorie added in a 
gossipy tone, and indeed she always talked 
about historical characters as if they were as 
real to her as her own neighbors. “ They say 
that after all she was n’t cruel at heart, but per- 
secuted the heretics from a sense of duty. It ’s 
a pity for any one to be so conscientious as 
all that, is n’t it ? For my part, I think she 
deserved the bad name she got, but ’tis an 
awful one. How would you like to go down 
in history as Bloody Mar gave tta ? ” 

“ Oh ! ” exclaimed dear little Margaretta, 
wincing, and Marjorie cried with contrition: — 
“ There, I ’ve hurt your feelings again, but I 
did n’t mean anything unpleasant. If you go 
down in history as a queen at all, which I 
hope you won’t, it will be as the nicest one 
that ever reigned.” 

“ I ’m glad that my country is Protestant,” 
said the Queen of Avaril, comfortably. “ I 
don’t like the Catholics because they perse- 
cuted so.” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


155 


“ They persecuted the Protestants.” Mar- 
jorie exclaimed with a wise air. “ When the 
people became Protestants they persecuted 
each other, that’s all the difference. Oh, yes, 
we have done a lot of it, too. We threw 
Bunyan into prison (where he wrote ‘ Pil- 
grim’s Progress,’ you know). We banished, 
imprisoned, or put to death lots of good 
people for nothing at all. Why, we would 
crop off a man’s ears, or slit his nose as quick 
as we would wink.” 

“Ah,” said Margaretta, “you must have 
read all those books in that old secretary you 
spoke of. ” 

“ Well, no. I never read ‘ The Diary of 
Amos Lawrence,’ and only a few pages of 
‘ Life and Speeches of Henry Clay,’ ” Marjorie 
admitted. “ But I read all of Hume and Ma- 
caulay (History of England, you know), the 
interesting parts a great many times. I read 
a good deal of ‘ Poems of Robert Burns,’ and 
most of Mrs. Hemans., She was a poet, too, 
but not one of the boss poets ; and Shakes- 
peare.” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


156 

“ More poems, I suppose.” 

“ No, plays, all full of murderers, ghosts, 
friars, clowns, fairies, and the most beyewtiful 
ladies. Sometimes winter evenings, we would 
read most a whole play, each one taking a 
part. They always gave me such parts as 
First Citizen, or Bolario, servant to Polinario,” 
(if memory failed, invention always served with 
Marjorie) “ or some such unimportant person, 
who would say nothing more than ‘No, my 
lord,’ or ‘ I shall, my liege,’ or ‘ Good sir, 
that ’s news indeed.’ It was not that I did n’t 
read well enough, either, but only because 
Aunt Belinda is so afraid of my being con- 
ceited. Oh dear, I wonder where Aunt Be- 
linda is now.” 

A sadness fell upon her at the mention of 
that name which checked her gay chatter, but 
suddenly remembering poor Charles, whom 
she had left to reach Spain as best he might, 
she began again as glibly as ever : — 

“ At every town on his way to Valladolid, 
which was then the Spanish capital, the emper- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


157 


or’s cortege was met by people who wished to 
take a last look at him. The great dignitaries 
came to do him honor and they had banquets 
all along the route. Charles pretended that he 
wanted to escape the crowds, but he seemed 
to like the refreshments very well. 

“When he reached Valladolid,” Marjorie 
went on, “his daughter Joanna gave him a 
loving welcome. Here he stayed quite a while, 
receiving the grandees and the ladies of the 
court, and all who wished to take leave of him. 
He had to advise the regent, too, about 
affairs of state, but he finally took leave of 
her and his little grandson, Don Carlos, and 
set out for the monastery. 

“ It was in a rough, mountainous country, and 
they had to travel on narrow paths that wound 
around dizzy precipices, the king being carried 
in a litter, or sometimes in the arms of the 
peasants, who accompanied the king’s party 
with pikes and shovels to clear the way. And 
so at last he reached the monastery, and there 
he stayed all the rest of his life.” 


158 A CHILD OF GLEE 

“And wasn’t he ever sorry that he had left 
his son and his daughter and his little grand- 
son ? ” asked Margaretta. “ And did n’t he 
ever wish that he could get away from the 
monastery ? ” 

“ Well, no. If he had, I suppose he would 
have gone. Kings and queens — grown-up 
ones, I mean — have ways of managing things, 
and Charles was a very great emperor.” 

“ I do n’t see how you can remember these 
things,” said Margaretta. 

Marjorie laughed. “ I ’ve been that old em- 
peror so many times,” she said. 

Much mystified, the queen repeated these 
words, and Marjorie was forced to explain 
further. 

“ I always imagine I am the person I ’m 
reading about. And sometimes, too, when I 
am not reading, I play that I am some interest- 
ing and important person.” 

“ I can never imagine myself any one but 
Margaretta.” 

“ Dear me, how dreadfully dull it must be. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


159 


always to be the same person,” exclaimed Mar- 
jorie, and she inwardly added, “ especially if 
that person is the little Queen of Avaril.” 

“ Above all,” went on the queen, “ I could 
not imagine myself that old emperor.” 

“ Oh, it ’s easy enough, except,” added Mar- 
jorie, with naivety “except where you have to 
write to your son to cherish the Holy Inquisi- 
tion, — I did find that rather hard. At first I 
would n’t, but pretended that I had repented 
of persecuting people so. The part I enjoyed 
most was that where Charles has his funeral 
services performed. The people gathered 
about a great coffin in the centre of the chapel, 
but instead of being in it, Charles, muffled in 
a black mantle, was taking a conspicuous part 
in the ceremonies. Poor old thing, he must 
have been a dreadful crank. No, he never re- 
gretted having laid aside his crown, for crowns 
are cumbersome and sometimes dangerous or- 
naments, as I once heard a man say.” 

Marjorie fell into silence, recalling the evil 
prophecies of the man-in-the-corner. She fer- 


i6o 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


vently wished that Margaretta would resign her 
crown before anything unpleasant occurred. 
So wise seemed this method of avoiding the 
sorrows and perils the crown of Avaril might 
bring that she could not forbear to urge it 
again upon the little queen. 

“You say that you are greatly beloved by 
your subjects, and that you mean to rule well, 
but you may have terrible trouble for all that. 
Subjects are not to be depended upon,” she 
said, in an experienced way. “ They let the 
bad kings trample upon them, and when a 
good, meek one comes along, they chop off his 
head. Oh, dearest Margaretta, will you not 
resign } ” 

“ Then the crown would go to Duke Otto, 
which would be a great calamity for Avaril, for 
he has a bad heart and does not love the peo- 
ple. No, I was born to take care of them and 
must remain on the throne.” 

“ Who knows, dear, sweet little Margaretta, 
what you were born for ? I do n’t think any 
one ought to wear a crown if she does n’t want 


A CHILD OF GLEE l6l 

to. And if you are afraid of the duke, I prom- 
ise to stand by you to the end. You mustn’t 
abdicate, though, until papa is free, for then, 
you know, you can easily slip off with us. Of 
course, they will try to find you, but I do n’t 
believe they would ever think of looking in 
Biddeford for a queen.” 

But again Margaretta shook her head. 

“ I was born the queen,” she said, in her lit- 
tle dignified way. 

And Marjorie divined the truth, that she did 
not wish to be anything else. 

“ Well,” she said, getting up with a business- 
like air, “ I am here to amuse Your Majesty. 
Let us go and play.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


M arjorie was in Margaretta’s company 
a portion of each morning, and that she 
faithfully performed the service expected of 
her — to raise the spirits of the drooping 
queen — no one who knew that young person 
could doubt. 

Even the countess was forced to admit that 
Queen Margaretta’s health and spirits had 
greatly revived since the arrival of her plebeian 
playfellow. 

When off duty, Marjorie perhaps enjoyed 
herself quite as much with Madame. The 
Frenchwoman fell in love with her brave little 
companion, who would not give way to fear 
and misery, and she helped her to keep up her 
spirits in every way that* she could. All that 
was worth seeing at the palace, be sure Mar- 
jorie saw. Under the conduct of Madame she 
even entered the queen’s boudoir, and beheld 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 63 

the wonders of that muscadine-scented cabi- 
net, — beheld them, indeed ! aye, Madame oblig- 
ingly turning her back, the crown jewels for a 
moment adorned the young person from Bidde- 
ford, in whose hair and around whose neck 
sparkled such jewels as only queens wear. 
Round her arms she wound strings of fair 
pearls or carved amber beads, fanned herself 
with a fan worth her father’s whole fortune, 
and her eyes had just fallen upon a tiny dagger 
with a dozen or more fine rubies in the hilt 
when Madame returned to her side. 

“ And what does Her Majesty do with this ? ” 
she asked. 

“ Nothing, my child. It remains with all 
such trinkets in the cabinet. What could she 
do with it ? ” 

“ Ah me ! ’t would be so nice when one acts 
tragedy.” 

“ ’T is only we merry creatures who love trag- 
edy,” Madame told her. “ ’T is not to the 
queen’s taste.” 

Next, Marjorie examined Her Majesty’s ward- 


164 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


robe, and was delighted with its magnificence. 
There were dresses of state, stiff with jewels, 
there were the exquisite simple toilettes in 
which the queen was seen every day, and 
dresses for walking and driving and even trav- 
elling, though, as Marjorie observed, the queen 
had not much use for travelling dresses. 

When Marjorie was shown the room in 
which were the royal toys she was in ecstasies. 
Such loads and loads of them there were, and 
of the most beautiful kinds. She counted over 
fifty lovely dolls, and did not count all. 

“ But, you know,” she said, turning at last to 
Madame, “ the queen can no more play with a 
doll than a doll can play with the queen.” 

As for Marjorie’s impression of the palace 
and the palace people, she shall speak for 
herself, for she wrote on this subject to her 
father, as soon as she found that a letter from 
her would be conveyed to him. 

“ It was your Marjorie’s harlequin ways, as 
Aunt Belinda calls them, that has raised that 
foolish creature to an office in the queen’s 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 65 

household,” she began, “ for I hope you have 
observed, dear papa, the address at the top of 
this sheet. Oh, yes, you have read it cor- 
rectly, — The Royal Palace, if you please. 
Perhaps you think ’t is but a joke, but I can 
tell you it is the solemn truth, and when I say 
solemn, I use just the right word, for a palace 
is a dreadfully solemn place, and dull, — dull as 
any farmhouse in Maine. 

“ Of course you will wish to know more 
particularly how I ever got here at all. It was 
through Madame, who thought I would make 
a merry playfellow for the little queen, who was 
ill and needed to be amused. The task, as you 
may think, is exactly suited to me, and I do it 
with the more pleasure because, if you will 
believe it, she was never amused before in all 
her life. At first, dear papa, I could not bear 
the thought of coming here while you were in 
that horrid place, but I was sorry for the poor 
unhappy queen, and I remembered how often 
you have said that, being such a gay creature 
myself, my mission in life is to help people to 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


1 66 

be cheerful. It is a very nice mission, I think, 
but oh, how strange it is that any one should 
need help in such a very easy thing ! 

“ I can assure you that at first I was much 
dazed at the grandeur of the palace. The 
magnificent apartments, so spacious and so 
high, made me feel a very small and unimpor- 
tant person. The big, high-backed chairs and 
tables and things all seemed to say : ‘ A fig for 
you, little hop-o’-my-thumb ! How did you get 
here, anyhow ? ’ 

“ The most disagreeable thing that you can 
imagine was to be presented to the queen’s 
suite. These ladies looked at me in such a 
strange way and I felt so very awkward that if 
the chance had been offered to me to go back 
to the orphanage I would have gone in a min- 
ute, and poor Madame must have been dread- 
fully worried for fear it would be said that 
such a very stupid girl would never be able 
to amuse the queen. 

“ ‘ Ah, man enfant^ she had said to me 
(meaning to give me courage, no doubt), 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 67 

‘ these honorable ladies are but human crea- 
tures. Riez^ mon enfant ! Chantez^ soyez 
joyeuse. Tout le monde T attend' 

“ But how could I riez, chantez, even if tout 
le monde did expect it, while they looked at 
me as if I were a paroquet on a perch, or a 
monkey on a pole ? 

“ I will now describe to you the ladies of the 
royal household. The highest in rank is an 
old countess who is very ugly. The point of 
her nose so nearly meets the point of her chin 
that I am continually wondering how she man- 
ages to eat. She must be obliged to open her 
mouth very wide, or perhaps she puts her fork 
in her mouth from the side, which must look 
odd, to say the least. 

“ This countess is a pompous, proud and dis- 
agreeable person, in whose opinion your Mar- 
jorie, strange as you may think it, is no great 
shakes. Oh dear, oh dear, I truly believe she 
begrudges the very air I breathe, palace air 
probably being too good for the likes of me. 

“ There are two ladies-of-honor who are sweet 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


1 68 

things to look at, but are not wits, and there is 
also an Englishwoman, a governess of the 
queen, who is the most ridiculous creature 
you ever saw, and makes me blush for my 
mother tongue. 

“ And now, papa, I have saved the best for the 
last, but my pen, I fear, will never do justice to 
that good Madame, so clever, so witty and so 
kind. Ah ! she is so good to me, and at night 
when I lie tossing from one side of the bed to 
the other, perhaps crying a little, thinking of 
the trouble that has fallen upon my beloved 
papa, this dear Madame comes to my bedside 
to comfort me, and she is so kind, so droll and 
so mother-like, and is so sure that all will 
come out right, that after awhile I fall asleep, 
sometimes waking up again to find her still 
holding my hand.” 


CHAPTER XV 


I T was very dull in the palace garden with 
the ladies of the queen’s suite. Even the 
countess yawned behind her fan as she ob- 
served for the third time that the weather was 
warm. 

The Englishwoman was fast asleep, her 
book of poems on the ground beside her. 
Lady Wilhelmina had laid aside her harp, and 
Lady Ursula’s needle no longer squeaked 
through the satin on which she had been em- 
broidering dainty devices in divers-colored 
floss. Even Madame’s head nodded occa- 
sionally. 

Meantime the queen and Marjorie amused 
themselves in their favorite retreat, — the nook 
on the Whispering Avenue where they first 
met. 

In imagination, however, they were no 
longer in the palace garden. They were starv- 


170 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


ing Pilgrims in the savage wilderness of Amer- 
ica. Savage beasts and cruel red-men in- 
habited for the nonce the smiling court garden. 
Witches rode overhead. Marjorie was the 
valiant hero John Smith, and the Queen of 
Avaril tried to fancy herself the dusky prin- 
cess Pocahontas; or Marjorie was Miles Stan- 
dish and Margaretta the coy Priscilla. Then 
the scenery changed and the court garden be- 
came the provincial town of Boston, and the 
rustic bridge that crossed the little stream, an 
English ship loaded with taxed tea, which, 
as defiant colonists, Marjorie and Margaretta 
vigorously flung overboard. They were in 
the midst of the stirring scene when the queen 
suddenly declared that she was faint with the 
heat. She sat down on the bank by the little 
stream to fan herself, begging Marjorie search 
the apparently well-filled storehouse of her 
memory for some historical event, or life of 
some historical personage, of a less exciting 
sort. 

“ Lady Jane Grey is one of my favorite char- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 171 

acters,” Marjorie answered. “ She was so in- 
teresting and pathetic.” 

“ Pathetic ? ” interrupted the queen, doubt- 
fully. “ Well, you might tell me about her 
while we sit in the shade and rest.” 

Margaretta lay down on the bank with her 
leghorn hat for a pillow. Her white dress was 
dappled with sunshine, but her sweet face was in 
shadow. She wished the world was not al- 
ways so full of trouble, but Marjorie, who sat at 
her ease in the fragrant grass, smacked her lips 
and began : — 

“ Henry the Eighth, who had made England 
a Protestant country, was succeeded by his son, 
Edward VI. He was a sickly boy, who was 
persuaded by Archbishop Cranmer to leave his 
crown to his cousin, Jane Grey, instead of to 
his sister Mary. Mary was an out-and-out 
Catholic, and Cranmer, you know, wanted a 
thorough-going Protestant to rule over Eng- 
land. Lady Jane Grey did not wish to wear 
the crown, which she knew in her heart she 
had no right to. And when Edward died, 


172 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


which happened soon afterwards, she wept 
bitterly and begged that she might remain as 
she was ; but her husband and her father and 
her father-in-law were all ambitious of seeing 
her upon the throne and she was forced to 
obey them. For nine days she was Queen of 
England, and then, tra la, Mary comes riding 
into London, and as she was the rightful heir 
to the crown the people would have her to 
rule over them. ’T is to be hoped that they 
got enough of the bloody wretch before they 
were through with her.” 

“ Is this the same Bloody Mary that you told 
me of before ? ” enquired Margaretta. 

“The same one!” screamed Marjorie. 
“Does Your Majesty think there was a long 
line of Bloody Marys ? ” 

“ And what happened to Lady Jane ? ” asked 
the queen, meekly. 

“ Oh, what always happened to people in 
those days. She was sent to the Tower and 
afterwards beheaded. I saw her name cut in 
the wall of Beauchamp Tower (a part of the 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


173 


great Tower of London, you know), where 
she was imprisoned. Upon my word, it made 
me cry.” 

“ You are crying now,” said the queen. “ We 
won’t play Lady Jane Grey.” 

“No, it’s ’most too warm to be beheaded 
to-day,” Marjorie assented, wiping her eyes. 
“ Then Mary, you know, put Archbishop 
Cranmer in prison for favoring Jane. She mar- 
ried Philip of Spain, the one who had promised 
to cherish the Holy Inquisition, and a hot time 
they made of it for the Protestants. Lots of 
us were burned at the stake in her day, and 
among the rest that same Archbishop Cran- 
mer. They served a shabby trick on him, too, 
for he was made to believe that if he would 
sign a paper saying that the Catholic religion 
was the true one, he should n’t be burned, and 
then after he had done it he found out that he 
had forsworn his faith for nothing, and that 
he was to die at the stake after all. If ever you 
burn any man at the stake, dear Margaretta, do 
let him have the comfort of being a glorious 
martyr.” 


174 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ I will,” promised Margaretta. 

“ But this Archbishop Cranmer died splen- 
didly after all. When the fire was lighted he 
plunged the ‘ unworthy hand ’ that had signed 
the paper into the flames to be burned first, so 
the people could see what his real feeling was. 
It must have been a splendid scene.” 

“Yes, but it’s even more heating to be 
burned at the stake than to be beheaded,” 
cried the tender-hearted queen, whose taste for 
the tragic was by no means so great as her 
playfellow’s. “ Can ’t you think of some pleas- 
ant scene ? Let ’s choose something funny 
this time.” 

“ Well,” said Marjorie, “ we have already 
done all the funny things that I ever read 
about. There are n’t many in history, anyhow. 
What with wars, persecutions, plots, and the 
scramble for thrones, people seemed to be al- 
ways in trouble. There ’s a nice story, though, 
about Sir Walter Raleigh flinging his cloak over 
the mud for Queen Elizabeth to walk upon. 
That’s not harrowing. You could be Eliza- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


175 


beth, you know, and I, Sir Walter; but, dear 
me, after awhile Elizabeth got jealous because 
he married somebody else, and had him sent to 
the Tower, and when James I came on, he 
chopped off his head.” 

“We might play just the first part,” sug- 
gested the queen, but Marjorie would n’t listen 
to that for a moment, and went on : — 

“ I remember a lovely story about the daugh- 
ter of Sir Thomas More — ” 

“ I suppose, if you like it, she had her head 
cut off in the end,” Margaretta rather sarcasti- 
cally remarked. 

“No, she 'didn’t,” Marjorie was able to as- 
sert. “ Her name was the same as ours — 
Margaret — and her father, like mine, though 
innocent of any crime, was thrown into 
prison.” 

This was certainly rather an unpropitious 
beginning. Marjorie’s eyes filled with tears, 
and the queen, terribly troubled, threw her arms 
around her neck, crying : — 

“ Oh, do n’t go on. I ’m sure this is the 
worst of all.” 


176 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ His only offence was in denying that the 
king, Henry the Eighth, was the head of 
the church,” Marjorie continued, while the 
queen went back to her place on the bank and 
watched her anxiously out of the corner of her 
eyes, wishing that something would occur to 
put an end to this uncomfortable tale. “ On 
his way to execution, his daughter met him to 
take a last farewell. And — and — ” Marjorie 
had begun to whimper again, “ they cut off his 
head. It — it was stuck on a spike on Lon- 
don Bridge — and at — at night — she came 
down the river in a boat — and took it home 
in her arms.” 

Here she broke down altogether, covering 
her face and weeping audibly. 

Margaretta was no less miserable. For a 
moment she watched her in silence, then kneel- 
ing down beside her upon the grass, gently 
pulled her hands from her face. 

Immediately, Marjorie’s attention was di- 
verted by the sudden appearance of a strange 
and fantastic figure walking swiftly toward the 
palace. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


177 


With one accord, the queen and her play- 
fellow hastened to rejoin the ladies on the ter- 
race, before whom the gipsy soon came to 
a halt. She must have known that her pres- 
ence in the court garden depended upon their 
caprice, but she stood her ground boldly. 

She made a striking figure, for she was a 
tall, majestic woman, black-browed and deep- 
colored, with eyes that glowed like coals of 
fire. Her brows were bound with a crimson 
handkerchief, and gold coins dangled in her 
dusky locks, while her garb was composed of 
such bright colors as are beloved of the wild 
tribes. 

“ Will the honorable ladies have their for- 
tunes told ? ” she said, but her glittering eyes 
were fixed upon the queen. “ I have travelled 
far to be here before the sun goes down, for 
to-morrow will be St. Margaret’s Day. I have 
come to warn you ere it be too late.” 

“ Oh, yes, let us have our fortunes told,” ex- 
claimed the ladies-in-waiting, glad of some 
event to break the monotony of palace life. 


178 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


and the Lady Wilhelmina held out her jewelled 
white hand, as the novelists say. 

“ I am no common fortune-teller,” said the 
gipsy, addressing the countess, on whose proud 
face alone was any prohibition to be read. “ I 
am the queen of my tribe and the gift of 
prophecy is mine.” 

So saying, she moved nearer to the queen. 

“Will Your Majesty give me her hand.f^ I 
can read better so.” 

Margaretta drew back shyly, for she was 
unused to intercourse with any save the 
ladies of her suite, but Marjorie’s eagerness 
could not be restrained, and she whispered in 
the queen’s ear : — 

“ Oh, let the gipsy tell your fortune. Just 
think, a real gipsy queen. We may never have 
such a chance again.” 

The Romany’s sharp ears caught every word, 
and she smiled at Marjorie, showing all her 
brilliant white teeth. 

“ The little lady is right,” she said. 

“Very well. Tell hers first,” commanded 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 79 

the queen, pointing to Marjorie, “ and then you 
may tell mine.” 

The countess, by leaning back in her chair, 
seemed to give consent. The other ladies 
gathered round the gipsy and the children, 
Madame slipping a gold piece into Marjorie’s 
hand. 

“ Give it to her, ma ch'ere ; then she will 
promise you a magnificent future,” she whis- 
pered. 

A frown on the dark face of the fortune- 
teller proved that she had caught these words 
also. She deigned not so much as a look at 
the speaker, but turning Marjorie’s hand palm 
upward, said calmly : “ I have the map of your 
life, little lady, already in my head. All the 
gold in the palace could not change one line of 
it. Listen, darling ! 

“ There are no storms gathering over your 
pretty head; but now and then a little cloud 
crosses your path with a shadow, to make the 
sunshine brighter beyond. You have the gay 
laugh and the brave heart which will carry you 


l8o A CHILD OF GLEE 

through trouble, if trouble comes. Pleasure 
and wealth, and health and beauty I can promise 
you, and love enough even to satisfy a woman. 
Far and wide shall you travel over the earth, 
and scatter blessings wherever you go.” 

“ But you have told me nothing about papa, 
nor when he will be free ! ” cried Marjorie, for 
at the last word the gipsy had dropped her 
hand and turned to the queen. “ I want to 
know how soon I shall see him again. Tell 
me, good mother, when I shall be with papa.” 

“You should be satisfied, little lady. I have 
never promised any one a happier fortune.” 

She had now the queen’s hand in hers, look- 
ing at it with such earnest attention that Mar- 
jorie wisely concluded it would be vain to 
bespeak her notice. 

“At the birth of Your Gracious Majesty,” 
she began, “ I read your horoscope. Again in 
the stars, and now in these lines of destiny do 
I read of evils to come. Beware, beware of St. 
Margaret’s Day, your day of birth. Your coun- 
sellors are blind, — blind, and know not how to 



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A CHILD OF GLEE 


l8l 


deliver you from your enemies. Woe to Avaril 
if the help of the humble is scorned. Had 
King Humboldt heeded the gipsy he would 
yet be upon the throne. The young queen, 
his child, is in danger. Beware — ” 

“ Enough, enough ! ” interposed the countess, 
sharply. “ Have a care, woman, how you 
speak of such matters. Go! We will have no 
more of your fortune-telling.” 

“Very good, very good, honorable lady,” 
exclaimed the gipsy queen, with a triumphant 
laugh. “ I have warned the court and I am 
satisfied. Heed my warning, else Duke Otto 
will sit on King Humboldt’s throne.” 

She was gone before the countess could chide 
her for this last word. 

As for the queen, she turned a troubled face 
to her ladies. 

“ What danger am I in ? What does the 
gipsy mean ? ” she asked, anxiously, looking 
from one to another. 

“ Hers are but idle words,” replied the 
countess. “ Does Your Majesty suppose that it 


i 82 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


would be given to a creature like that to see 
into futurity when a Barnstetter cannot ? ” 

“ And who did she mean was to help me ? ” 
continued Margaretta, still troubled, for the 
eagerness of the prophetess had much im- 
pressed her. There was no answer, but pres- 
ently, feeling a tap upon her shoulder, the 
queen turned to encounter the significant 
glance of her young favorite. 

“ Cannot Your Majesty guess ” asked Mar- 
jorie, smiling, and pointing with her forefinger 
to her own person. 

“ The child is becoming intolerable,” ex- 
claimed the countess to Madame. “ I think it 
is time that she should be removed from the 
royal palace.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


M arjorie heartily agreed with the 
countess as to the desirability of her 
own departure from the palace. Yet neither 
was Mr. Westbrook released nor had her Aunt 
Belinda arrived from Paris, the reason thereof 
being altogether beyond conjecture. Notwith- 
standing the warm affection that she had for 
Queen Margaretta, she was tired of the palace, 
and would fain return to humble life. 

There is no reason to doubt that Marjorie 
was, as she ever afterwards averred, very un- 
comfortable in the royal household, where 
every one save Madame and her royal mistress 
looked upon her as an interloper. 

The child of a man under arrest for treason- 
able designs against Margaretta, her presence 
there was most undesirable, and if Madame’s 
secret should leak out, might cause trouble, so 
the countess was not so far wrong in her 


184 A CHILD OF GLEE 

desire that she should be removed at once. 
The little queen’s health was wonderfully im- 
proved, and, in short, Marjorie had served her 
turn. So matters stood when the sun arose 
upon the morning of St. Margaret’s Day. 

It was the queen’s birthday, but so much 
money had been spent at her coronation that 
it was to be celebrated in the simplest manner. 
In fact, Margaretta was far more concerned 
with the celebration of Marjorie’s birthday than 
of her own, for the privilege had been granted 
to that unfortunate of visiting her father at the 
prison. 

One can celebrate one’s birthday in no 
more delightful manner than in conferring 
benefits upon those we love, and the queen 
had the satisfaction of feeling that this inter- 
view would not take place unless she had 
solicited it of Von Bourn. As for the old 
minister, he had rejoiced that the tide of affairs 
had so changed that, for once, he could gratify 
a wish of his royal mistress. 

Although she was not to start for the prison 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 85 

until noonday, Marjorie was ready by nine 
o ’clock. 

The day, like the preceding, was warm and 
drowsy. The bees hummed among the lilies; 
the breeze sang faintly in the trees. Under the 
sunlight which fell in glittering showers 
upon it, the greensward turned to gold, and 
was dappled with flowers of vivid hue. The 
peaceful atmosphere of the palace and the 
dreamy loveliness of the garden served only to 
chafe poor Marjorie, quivering as she was with 
impatience for the moment to come when she 
could set out for the prison. It was like the 
sleeping palace in which one was doomed to 
silence and stillness for a hundred years, she 
thought, little suspecting what should transpire 
in it in the course of the next few hours. 

The 'Spell was broken in the early morning 
by the arXyal of the prime minister, which was 
followed by ihe^nnouncement that the queen 
was to leave MarlNat once. Her Majesty was 
to be accompanied ^ly by the countess, the 
other ladies to remain ih the palace until the 
next day. 


i86 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


No reason was given for this haste, and if 
any one guessed, the secret was carefully kept 
in the guesser’s mind. 

“ Alas, ma mignonne^' cried Madame to 
Marjorie, “ ’tis not you nor me whose pleasure 
is consulted in this move. But take heart, my 
child, remembering the prophecy of the gipsy 
queen that the little clouds will melt away. 
By the time I am again with the queen, per- 
haps you and your papa will be reunited. I 
know, in fact, that — ” but here Madame 
paused and would not continue the sentence, 
which seemed to promise so well. In a mo- 
ment she added, “ And when that time comes, 
you will hurry away to le bo7t oncle Sam, nest- 
ce pas ? ” 

“Yes, yes; we shall indeed, and we shall 
take precious good care to stay with him when 
once we have got there,” Marjorie declared. 

At this moment a messenger from the queen 
informed Marjorie that Her Majesty awaited 
her in the garden. 

The moment had indeed arrived when they 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


187 


must part, and the queen had chosen the spot 
where they had passed so many happy hours 
together for this sad ceremony. 

“Your Majesty will soon forget her humble 
playfellow,” said Marjorie, with the well-meant 
endeavor to lessen the pain of parting which 
she read in Margaretta’s gentle face, but the 
queen answered : — 

“No, I shall never forget you. It is far more 
likely that you, who will have so many playfel- 
lows, will forget me. Dearest, every St. Mar- 
garet’s Day I shall keep your birthday in my 
heart. When the cannons are booming and 
the flags flying, I shall say to myself, ‘ ’T is 
the birthday of my Marjorie,’ and I shall wish 
you happiness.” 

“ I also shall keep your birthday,” cried 
Marjorie. “ On my birthday cake I shall have 
two sets of candles, one for you and one set for 
me, and I shall propose a toast, and it will be 
this: ‘Here’s to Margaretta, Queen of Avaril. 
May she be adored by all her subjects, and the 
happiest queen in Europe,’ ” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


1 88 

The color flew into Margaretta’s face. She 
was greatly pleased, and such was the affection- 
ateness of her nature that, no doubt, on many 
an anniversary of this day, amid the splendor 
of court festivals, she remembered the promise 
with a revival of tenderness for her childish 
playfellow. 

The queen, leaning forward, now kissed Mar- 
jorie’s cheek, and then with arms wound about 
each other they walked back to the terrace. 
There was no one there, as was usual at this 
hour, which the ladies of the household were 
wont to pass in the garden. The empty seats 
seemed to suggest that they should postpone 
speaking that last painful word and enjoy a few 
more moments together. 

Hardly had they seated themselves in the 
two great chairs that were placed in the centre 
of the semicircle, when for the second time 
that morning the carriage of the prime minis- 
ter drove up to the royal palace. 

The duke, alighting, bowed low to the queen, 
soliciting the honor of an audience. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 89 

Then a most extraordinary thing hap- 
pened. 

On the very few occasions when Marjorie 
had found herself in the presence of the prime 
minister she had been ignored as completely 
as if she had no corporeal existence whatever, 
but now he brought his august eyes down to 
Marjorie’s insignificant person and politely 
requested her to accompany Her Majesty into 
the palace. 


CHAPTER XVII 


M arjorie could see that while they 
waited for the countess, for whom the 
prime minister sent immediately they entered 
the palace, that he was in an extremely agita- 
ted state of mind. His proud old face looked 
terribly careworn, and he paced the floor of the 
audience chamber with an impatience he could 
not control. Sometimes he stopped by a win- 
dow and looked into the open, as if the smil- 
ing court garden were filled with enemies, or 
again he would turn his keen eyes upon his 
little sovereign with a softened glance that 
Marjorie thought became him. Something in 
his tone and look and manner whenever he 
addressed Margaretta expressed his conviction 
that it was by divine right that this little child 
commanded his reverence and his loyalty. If 
he performed the slightest service for her, such 
as to place a chair or pick up her fan or glove. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


I9I 

he did it with such an air of homage that, com- 
ing from so proud and stately a personage, 
impressed Marjorie with admiration and also 
the regret that she herself seemed to be so un- 
worthy his notice. 

Once he embarrassed her very much by sud- 
denly turning upon her to say : — 

“ Well, mademoiselle, how do you find me? ” 

Whereupon she cast down her eyes, resolved 
to stare at him no more. 

Presently she became aware that in turn his 
eyes were upon her, even as if he would fain 
know what manner of child she was. This 
silent inspection, though perhaps flattering, 
was extremely disconcerting, and for once in 
her life Marjorie welcomed the appearance of 
the countess. 

The duke led her to the remotest corner of 
the long room, and for a moment they con- 
ferred together in low tones. The countess 
changed- color, and uttered an exclamation of 
dismay. 

“ Oh dear ! I believe something dreadful 


192 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


has happened,” whispered Marjorie to the 
queen, who nodded solemnly in reply. 

The countess now came forward, and with 
unwonted condescension seated herself be- 
side Marjorie. 

“ My dear child,” she began in a tone 
absolutely that of affection, and which caused 
her whom she addressed to hop in her chair 
and look at her with what would be to any 
one but the stony old countess, disconcerting 
astonishment : “ My dear child, an oppor- 

tunity has presented itself whereby you can 
prove your gratitude to the queen for Her 
Majesty’s unparalleled kindness to you.” 

“ Y ou had better come immediately to the 
point,” interrupted the duke in a nervous 
way. “ There is not a moment to be lost.” 

As the countess hesitated he himself took 
the word. 

He stood by the queen’s side, his hand 
laid very gently and reassuringly upon her 
shoulder, as she sat white and still, her great 
wide-flung eyes fixed upon Marjorie. The 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


193 


countess too, leaning forward in her chair, 
looked with an eager eye at the child she 
had despised. 

“ It is feared,” the prime minister exclaimed, 
“ that an attempt may be made by the Ottoists 
to seize the queen on the journey she is to 
take to-day, which for reasons of state can- 
not be delayed. Any such scheme, however, 
will be defeated if you will take her place 
with the countess in the royal coach. Her 
Majesty can then be safely taken from the 
palace in the cab which leaves at the same 
hour to take you to see your father at the 
prison.” 

“Your resemblance to the queen would 
deceive anybody',' the countess exultantly 
exclaimed, coolly ignoring her former denials 
of it. 

“ But what is to become of me ? " cried 
Marjorie, with natural but, no doubt, exas- 
perating anxiety for her own safety. 

In her excited imagination she saw herself 
in the queen’s coach drawn by foam-splashed 


194 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


horses, with a furious attacking party in the 
rear, and she naturally felt that she had very 
much rather ride in the humble cab. Could 
it be that only yesterday she had absolutely 
craved such an opportunity for proving her 
bravery and devotion to the queen? 

“I — I do n’t want to take the queen’s place 
in the coach,” she stammered. “ I think it 
should be one of her own subjects. If it were 
our president it would be different, and I should 
feel that I ought to go.” 

“ There is no danger for you^' said the 
countess, with a contempt which was very 
unreasonable, considering the nature of the 
favor they asked and the age of her of 
whom they asked it. “ If you should be capt- 
ured you would be released directly the dis- 
covery is made that you are not the queen.” 

“ Of course, of course,” asserted the prime 
minister, crossing his arms over his breast and 
frowning down at her. “ Y ou would be released 
at once.” 

“ I don’t feel so sure about that.” And now 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


195 


for the first time Marjorie raised her face 
boldly to meet his eyes. “ It seems to be a 
great deal easier to be captured than to get free 
again. Papa — ” 

The duke gave an exclamation of impatience. 
Indeed, he knew well that a delay might defeat 
his plan. He had long practice, however, in 
meeting emergencies, and Marjorie’s last word 
gave him his cue. 

“ Will you go,” he said, “ if I give you an 
order for your father’s release .f^” (The order 
had already been made out, for the government 
was now in possession of facts that proved Mr. 
Westbrook’s innocence, but of course Marjorie 
did not know that.) “You must decide at 
once.” 

Marjorie’s eyes travelled slowly from the 
resolute face of the old minister to the little 
queen, — that pathetic bit of royalty whose 
future was so uncertain, who now stood in such 
peril, who had bestowed upon her her friend- 
ship and favor, and for whom she really had 
such love and pity. 


196 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Marjorie was a brave child both by nature 
and training. She looked again at Von Bourn. 
Her eyes were black as midnight, though her 
cheeks were white. 

“ For the queen and for papa! He shall not 
have a coward for a daughter,” she said to her- 
self. Then to V on Bourn : — 

“Yes, I will take the queen’s place. I am 
not afraid.” And being a Yankee she immedi- 
ately added, “ I will go if I carry the order with 
me in my pocket.” 

The order was made out on the instant. 

“Will Your Majesty sign here.f^” said the 
duke, and Margaretta signed it. 

As she laid down the pen, the queen silently 
turned, holding out her arms to Marjorie. 

“ Oh, Margaretta, Margaretta 1 ” cried she, 
“ the gipsy queen, I am sure, was right, and I 
am going to help you after all, for I will not be 
a coward.” 

But the little queen answered not a word. 
She stood looking at Marjorie with her soul 
in her eyes, and that air of patient acquies- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 1 97 

cence in the decrees of fate that made her so 
pathetic. 

Marjorie was then hurried away. Although 
she was a Yankee she was a small one, and 
perhaps it is not to be wondered at if, in the 
excitement of the moment, she put the order in 
her pocket without reading it. 


CHAPTER XVIII 



HE cab which had been ordered for eleven 


1 o’clock was the first of the two vehicles 
to arrive. Peeping from one of the upper win- 
dows of the palace, Marjorie had a glimpse of 
Margaretta as she was hurried into this hum- 
ble conveyance. The queen wore the motley 
suit that had been devised for and worn by her 
playfellow, and accompanying her was Madame, 
who was to have been Marjorie’s companion to 
the prison. 

“ The queen, at least, will have pleasant com- 
pany,” she thought. “ As for me, it makes me 
sick to think of riding miles with the coun- 
tess.” 

The cab, which had been standing at a side 
entrance near the apartments of Madame, had 
hardly rattled away when the queen’s carriage 
drew up. 

So, escorted by the old minister, and fol- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


199 


lowed by the countess and the ladies of 
the royal household, Marjorie passed out of the 
palace for the last time. 

She wore a suit of very fine light gray cloth, 
with a yoke of white silk daintily embroidered 
with silver thread, and a big black Gainesbor- 
ough hat, a costume in which the queen had 
often been seen of late as she took her after- 
noon drive. It will hardly be necessary to say 
that every inch of her pliant young person was 
bent to the task of representing the queen. 
Nor would it be surprising if, despite certain 
disquieting fears, the moment was not without 
charm for her. 

In truth, so well did Marjorie’s face and Mar- 
jorie’s manner suggest the face and manner of 
Margaretta that as he assisted her into the 
coach the old minister’s glance rested upon her 
for an instant with decided approval, while a 
bystander cried : — 

“ God save the queen ! ” 

Six hussars rode on either side of the 
coach, unsuspicious that the little person they 


200 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


guarded was merely an humble American citi- 
zen. 

The countess sat unusually erect. Her face 
was pale, but her sunken eyes burned in their 
sockets. Whatever her failings, she had loy- 
alty and courage. 

“ Ha ! ” she said once, like the villain in a 
play, “those dastardly Ottoists are outwitted 
again.” 

To Marjorie she paid no attention whatever. 
Never again in those dulcet tones would she 
address her as “ my dear child.” 

The journey was tiresome. The carriage 
curtains were drawn and Marjorie had but a 
fleeting glimpse, now and then, of the wild 
mountain scenery through which they passed. 

At first she amused herself by playing the 
queen, and with such airs of royal dignity as 
the gentle Margaretta herself never assumed. 
If they excited the displeasure of the countess, 
she probably did not enjoy them the less for 
that. 

“To think that I should be masquerading as 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


201 


a royal person,” she said to herself, “ and that 
I should really be wearing a queen’s clothes. 
Dear me, what will happen next.f^ To have 
them taken off, I suppose. Countess,” she 
said aloud, unable to be silent another moment, 
“ what would happen if I should run away with 
the queen’s clothes on ? ” 

“You would immediately be brought back 
by the hussars,” replied the countess, laconi- 
cally. 

“ Well, I sha’ n’t get out of the coach till I ’m 
obliged to. I know a young man who paid 
half a sovereign just to get into a coach that 
Queen Victoria had once used, — but I don’t 
have to pay anything for my ride in this one. 
It ’s the first ride, too, that I ’ve had since I 
went to the palace.” 

“ It will be long enough to make up,” said 
the countess, grimly. 

“ Ah,” cried Marjorie, thinking that here was 
a fine opportunity to gratify her curiosity. 
“ Where are we going ? ” 

“ You ask a great many questions,” remarked 


202 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


the countess, haughtily, and then followed 
another silence. 

Marjorie’s heart sank with the belief that 
they were going to a certain castle which Mar- 
garetta had once described to her as a lonely 
spot in a gloomy mountain country. The re- 
turn from such a place, in her position, it now 
struck her might be full of difficulty. With 
that order which the duke had given her in 
her pocket, she could but grudge every mile 
that carried her farther away from Marll. 

The royal coach, however, went lumbering 
on, the road becoming gradually rougher, as the 
jolting and the jarring plainly proved. How 
many hours, she wondered, had Margaretta 
passed with this dull old countess in this 
coach, driving upon the boulevard at the capi- 
tal, to be gazed at by her people? And this 
was but one of innumerable royal duties. Had 
she any lingering illusion concerning the felicity 
of wearing a crown, this drive with the coun- 
tess would have dispelled it. 

They had started at noonday, and now the 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


203 


sun had set. It was stifling hot in the car- 
riage, and the two travellers were inexpressibly 
weary. The countess, however, still sat erect, 
looking not unlike some fierce animal scenting 
danger. No doubt her nerves were terribly 
strained by Marjorie, who fidgetted with the 
window curtain, wriggled her feet, or drummed 
tunes with her fingers, utterly unable to keep 
still. 

“ Oh, do let me look out of the window,” she 
begged. “ If we are really going anywhere we 
must have nearly got there by this time ; and 
it ’s too dark now for the hussars to see me.” 

“ Child, be quiet,” commanded the countess. 
“ Can you not emulate for this short time the 
patience and dignity of her whose place you 
have taken ? But no, how could you ? She is 
a descendant of a royal house, and you come 
of a race of shopkeepers.” 

“Yes, and I am feeling more shopkeepery 
every moment,” Marjorie assented, with a truly 
pathetic delight in the sound of the human 
voice, even though it had no other message for 


204 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


her than a snub. “ I wonder,” she went on, 
“if the queen and Madame are making such a 
dull time of it ? ” 

The countess disdained to reply. The coach 
jogged on. For some time Marjorie remained 
quiet, with her head against the cushions, and 
the countess hoped that she had fallen asleep; 
but she was in far too excited a mood for that, 
and presently sat upright, saying impulsively : — 

“ If this goes on much longer I shall 
scream ! ” 

Hardly were the words spoken when she did 
scream, having been thrown violently forward 
into the countess’s lap by a sudden halt of the 
coach. 

Instantly the countess’s hand was over her 
mouth. 

“ Hush ! ” she whispered. 

There was the sound of a scuffle outside, 
and the occupants of the coach, peeping cau- 
tiously out, discovered that they were sur- 
rounded by a band of armed horsemen, to 
whom the hussars had been forced to yield. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


205 


Almost immediately the door of the coach 
was forced open, and two men stood at the 
opening. 

“ The queen is not here,” said the countess, 
with a laugh that showed her old teeth. 

No rejoinder was vouchsafed, but a move- 
ment was made to reach the figure supposed to 
be that of Margaretta. 

It is due to the countess to say that she 
made every effort to protect Marjorie, but the 
assertion that she was not the young queen 
was received with contempt. In a moment 
one of the horsemen had taken her from the 
coach and swung her across his saddle. Then, 
heedless of her cries, he set spurs to his horse 
and galloped away with her. 

Night had fallen and it was a weird scene. 
The countess sat in the coach surrounded by 
the rueful guards, while the cavalcade with the 
kidnapped child went clattering down the nar- 
row pass that was lost in the deepest shades of 
the mountains. 

Though her captor paid no heed to Marjo- 


206 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


He’s assertion that she was but a traveller from 
America and no queen, he was yet kind and 
respectful, making her as comfortable as he 
could, and assuring her that she would be 
treated well. After the first frantic moment, 
therefore, she was not much frightened, and 
perhaps thought herself well rid of the 
countess. 

It was midnight when the kidnappers drew 
rein in the court-yard of a large, turreted castle, 
or so it appeared in the darkness. This court- 
yard was full of men, who broke into loud 
cheering at the sight of the small maid whom 
they thought the queen. They gathered so 
closely with their lanterns about her, peering 
with grim triumph into her face, that Marjorie 
shrank near her captor, whispering : — 

“ Oh, tell them that I am not the queen ! ” 

“ They will not believe me, you know,” he 
answered her, with a laugh. “ That great 
fellow with the yellow beard yonder, for 
instance, used to belong to the royal guards 
and knew the little queen’s face as well as his 
own,” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


207 


But he made the men stand back, all except 
one, whom he called De Groot, who, having 
listened to some directions in a language that 
was neither French, English nor German, 
took Marjorie from the horse and led her into 
the castle. 

It was a very ancient and darksome dwell- 
ing, the like of which in all her travels had 
never before been seen by Marjorie. Small 
wonder if, for a moment, her courage failed 
her, for though, no doubt, on a sunshiny day, 
inspected with merry companions, this castle 
would seem a most interesting old building, 
entering at midnight a solitary captive, its 
atmosphere was depressing enough. 

Reaching the banquet-hall, the sight of a 
table spread for supper somewhat lessened its 
gloom, for Marjorie had eaten nothing since 
a hurried luncheon just before leaving the 
palace. She was hungry enough to apply 
herself with a good relish to a substantial meal, 
but before she would seat herself (for her 
attendant, leading her directly to the table, 


208 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


drew out a chair for her occupancy), she 
turned and looked at him from head to foot. 

Alas, Marjorie’s merry eyes already wore a 
captive’s look, — that confused and anxious 
appeal with which even a little animal looks 
out to see what manner of man it is at whose 
mercy it suddenly finds itself, — a look that no 
man with any heart in him can see unmoved 
on a child’s face. 

With bulging eyes, loosely hanging double 
chin, a big stomach and tapering legs, and 
wearing a dark green livery with white waist- 
coat, he was ludicrously like a big frog, and 
she almost expected that he would give a loud 
c ’chug and leap under the table. Though 
not agreeable to look at, his great face was not 
unkindly, and Marjorie took heart from it to 
explain her melancholy situation. Cheered 
by his respectful attention, she told her story 
to the end, when he bowed to the ground and 
motioned her to be seated at the table. Evi- 
dently he had not understood a word. Having 
repeated the tale with the same result in each 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


209 


language she knew, — having expressed herself 
by gestures so clearly that any child would 
guess her meaning, — she concluded that the 
fellow was half witted or had received instruc- 
tions to have no conversation with his prisoner. 
She looked at the poached eggs (smoking hot), 
at the roast chicken and delicious tarts, 
sighed, and at last sat down to the table, with 
the reflection that a queen’s fare was none too 
good for her. 


CHAPTER XIX 


M arjorie slept that night in a heavily- 
built, much-curtained bed, such as was 
used by the elite of past centuries, and the 
apartment in which it stood was so large that 
as she moved about in it she looked like a mere 
puppet. It was a bit lonesome to one accus- 
tomed to cosy quarters, and as she climbed 
into the great bed Marjorie told herself that 
she would feel more at home in a big drawer 
in the closet, if such modern arrangements 
were to be found in this ancient dwelling. 

After the fatigue and excitement of a day 
that had seemed three days long, she slept 
soundly. On waking, she found herself re- 
freshed and of good courage, and dressed with 
the determination to find some one at once, 
less stupid than De Groot, by whom she would 
be understood. 

Eager for the day’s chances, whatever they 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


21 1 


might be, she opened the door and looked out 
upon a gallery hung with old tapestries. One 
end of this gallery was closed by a barred door, 
the other led into winding passages in which 
the adventurous Marjorie soon lost herself. 
What she wished was to find the banquet-hall 
in which she had supped the night before. 

When, immediately after supper, she had 
been conducted to her room she was too sleepy 
to observe more than that she had mounted 
a narrow, winding, stone staircase, but no stair- 
case was now to be seen and that she was not 
on the ground floor she assured herself at each 
window. 

The search for some sign of human habita- 
tion in this bewildering old castle was begin- 
ning to appear uncanny, when her eager ears 
caught the sound of voices. They seemed to 
issue from a room at the end of the passage 
into which she had suddenly turned in the 
hope that it would take her back to the start- 
ing-point. The door was open, but a portiere 
concealed her as for a moment she stood there 
summoning courage to enter. 


212 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ The game is now in our own hands ” (such 
were the words Marjorie heard), “ and the risk 
which each one of us has taken in your service 
binds you to — ” 

“You speak, Von Orfmann, as if I had ex- 
acted any such sacrifice of you,” cried another 
voice, full of bitter discontent. “ Sacramento, 
if it ’s a question of obligation, the boot is on 
the other leg. ’T is your own scheme, gentle- 
men, not mine. I have told you a thousand 
times that I have no ambition to be King of 
Avaril, and if at your importunities I have sac- 
rificed my own desire, it is surely enough 
without assuming a sense of gratitude. But 
your anxiety is needless. Now that you have 
Margaretta in custody, I shall keep my prom- 
ise. The game, as you say, is in our hands.” 

Marjorie had listened to these words with 
her heart in her mouth, as the saying is, for 
she realized that these persons within this room 
were conspirators, and the man who spoke last, 
the black-hearted duke. 

Reflecting that here was the chance she had 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


213 


wished for, she pushed the portiere aside and, 
as boldly as she could, cried out : — 

“ But you see, messieurs, the game is not in 
your hands, after all, for I am not the Queen 
of Avaril.” 

The men — there were four of them sitting 
around a table — jumped to their feet, and one 
of them, he that had last spoken, burst into a 
great laugh. 

Marjorie ran up to him, crying: — 

“ Oh, how glad I am yoii are here! You will 
tell these others that I am not the queen.” 

“ On my life, the little American, the child 
of glee 1 ” exclaimed he whom we have known 
as the unsociable-man-in-the-corner. And he 
laughed again, even more heartily than before, 
either at the chagrin of his companions or his 
own satisfaction at their failure. 

“ Gentlemen,” he said, “ what she says is the 
lamentable fact. You have been outwitted. 
This little person that you have put yourself 
to the trouble of kidnapping is a humble trav- 
eller from — from — ” 


214 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ From Biddeford,” Marjorie hastened to 
say. 

“Yes, gentlemen, a humble traveller from 
Biddeford.” 

“ Biddeford ! Biddeford ? ” repeated one of 
the conspirators, in a puzzled tone. 

“Yes, — Biddeford, Maine,” Marjorie ex- 
plained. 

“ Maine is one of the United States of Amer- 
ica,” said the duke. “ My friends, you are de- 
plorably ignorant of geography, and mademoi- 
selle, who knows everything, is shocked beyond 
measure. Come, place yourself here,” he went 
on, turning to Marjorie and drawing a chair 
beside his own, “ and tell me how, by all the 
marvels, you are here in the queen’s place.” 

Not having had speech for hours with a sin- 
gle soul, except the old countess, our loqua- 
cious friend was not loath to obey. She, 
therefore, narrated her adventures with full 
particulars from the time she left the railway 
carriage in Marll to the present moment, no 
doubt setting them forth with convincing 


A CHILD OF GLEE 215 

reality by the aid of a ready tongue and all the 
arts of pantomime. 

Duke Otto and his companions listened with 
attention, for these experiences she spoke of 
had led to the discomfiture of their own care- 
fully made plans, and some hint might be gath- 
ered from them by which they could choose 
their future course. 

“And when you, mademoiselle, left the pal- 
ace in the royal coach,”, said he whom they 
called Von Orfmann, “ in what direction was 
the queen to go ? ” 

“ The countess took good care that I should 
not know that,” Marjorie replied, seeing a wis- 
dom in the uncommunicativeness at which she 
had formerly so chafed. 

“ Leave her alone ; the little American sticks 
to her friends,” cried the duke, forestalling 
a second question. 

When Marjorie told him of the order for her 
father’s release that she had bought of the 
prime minister, Duke Otto said, grimly : — 

“ He deceived you, little mademoiselle, 


2I6 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


for your father was already cleared of any 
suspicion of favoring our party. Did I 
not work day and night to bring that 
about.?" 

“ You ? That was kind," exclaimed Marjorie. 

The young man laughed, shaking his 
head. 

“ You are a very sharp Yankee, mademoiselle. 
Yet I believe, after all, that you never sus- 
pected that the man-in-the-corner was the 
cause of the trouble that befell you on your ar- 
rival at Marll. No.? I thought not. And 
why did I let suspicion fall upon your good 
papa .? Why, simply because it was a question 
of whether he or I should fall into the hands of 
the government when the train should arrive 
at the capital. I leave it to your sagacity if it 
were not better that it should be he .? " 

“ Certainly not," cried Marjorie, “ and he per- 
fectly innocent." 

“ For that very reason," said the young man, 
coolly, “ since he could be cleared of the charge 
and I could not. Truly, it took longer than I 


A CHILD OF GLEE 217 

had any idea of, but I assure you not because 
I did not make every effort.” 

“ May I ask,” interrupted one of the gentle- 
men, who had several times during this dia- 
logue laid his hand upon Duke Otto’s arm; 
“may I ask what may be the object of taking 
this child into your confidence ? ” 

A^ain Duke Otto laughed. 

“ But you are a most amusing gentleman,” 
he said. “ Do you really always have an ad- 
ject in whatever you do ? Come, Miss Mar- 
jorie Westbrook, let us take a walk in the 
old garden while your breakfast and my lunch- 
eon are being prepared.” 

Marjorie followed his eyes to a clock in a 
corner. It was twelve o’clock. 

They went out together, the young man 
looking back at his friends to say : — 

“ Gentlemen, I will be at your service this 
afternoon.” 


CHAPTER XX 


HE spot designated by Duke Otto as the 



1 garden was a rectangular space, with 
winding alleys, enclosed by a high wall, against 
which rose trees had been trained, but the en- 
closure was overgrown with weeds and this- 


tles. 


In the centre of it was an unsightly, slimy 
pond, with a bench here and there around it, 
and on one of these the duke and Marjorie 
seated themselves. 

“You do not like it, little mademoiselle,” he 
said, laughing, as he saw her look of dismay. 
“ Well, neither do I ; but as an unsuccessful 
claimant to a throne, I have neither time nor 
money for the gentle pursuit of gardening.” 

Marjorie gave him one of her eager 
glances. 

“ Why,” she enquired, pointing to the neg- 
lected garden, “ why do you not leave off being 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


219 


a claimant to the throne, and attend to it? It 
looks what people in Biddeford call extremely 
shiftless.” 

“Your remark is very personal,” answered 
Duke Otto, good-humoredly. “ Let ’s change 
the subject. You have seen a good deal of 
palace life, it seems, since we formerly met, and 
have had numerous adventures. I suppose it 
seems harder than ever to go to one’s home in 
Biddeford and struggle for, — how does it say 
itself, — for an average of ninety-nine ? ” 

“ Not at all,” answered Marjorie. “ I would 
rather be in Biddeford with papa than upon the 
grandest throne in Europe.” 

Her eyes suddenly filled with tears, for the 
difficulties in rejoining her father, notwith- 
standing his release, seemed as great as ever. 
In truth, since their separation, she had not 
been so much discouraged as she was at this 
moment. 

“ Oh, where is papa now ? ” she cried out in 
sudden distress, “ and when shall I ever see him 
again ? ” 


220 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


She was obliged to examine an unsightly 
burdock to conceal her face, over which the 
tears were plenteously rolling. 

“ Dear child, it shall all be arranged. Do 
not be afraid. Above all, do not cry, dear little 
mademoiselle. I cannot endure to see a child 
cry.” 

“ But you can endure to give her a good 
reason to cry,” said Marjorie, tartly. 

“ I am not a very successful person, truly,” 
the duke went on, catching her hand and pull- 
ing her back to the bench, “ but I can undoubt- 
edly arrange this. I shall communicate with 
your father at once in regard to your meeting 
him.” 

Marjorie hereupon wiped her tears, but 
presently turned, gave him an attentive look, 
and sighed. He knew what the sigh meant. 

“You do not trust me, and, after all, I 
cannot blame you for that. Yet, you are alto- 
gether wrong. On my honor, I thought, in 
doing what I did to avoid falling into the 
hands of the government at Marll, that I 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


221 


should cause your father but a slight annoy- 
ance. And truly, I did have trouble and 
danger enough to set him free.” 

“ But,” said Marjorie, doubtfully, “ you have 
conspired against the queen. Oh, monsieur,” 
she went on, eagerly, “ why do you try to usurp 
Margaretta’s throne ? It ’s rightfully hers, and 
strange as it seems, she wishes to keep it. She 
means to rule well, too, and I am sure you do 
not love the people of Avaril as she does.” 

“ Sacramento ! ” exclaimed the duke, laugh- 
ing. “You are quite right. I think the peo- 
ple of Avaril are an intolerable nuisance.” 

Nor could she induce him to speak on this 
subject with any more seriousness, and so was 
forced to give it up in despair. 

Despite the reason he had given her to do 
so, she could not dislike this young nobleman. 
Looking into his frank, kindly face and listen- 
ing to his genial voice it was difficult to believe 
him the black-hearted villain he was considered 
to be by the people of Avaril. 

She was pondering these things when a 
sudden commotion arose in the court-yard. 


222 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Duke Otto had his own reasons for remain- 
ing in the garden, so well hidden as he was 
from whomsoever these persons might be. 
But Marjorie, hoping for she knew not what, 
flew to the opening. There for half a moment 
she stopped, flinging up her hands and crying 
in no feigned astonishment : — 

“ Mercy on us, — my Aunt Belinda ! ” 

And Aunt Belinda it was, no more than the 
sun to be kept from her elected course, though 
it led over the dizziest mountain crags, through 
armed bands, or into the most inaccessible of 
castle court-yards. There she stood, sweet and 
serene as ever, disarming with her airs and 
graces the inhospitable De Groot. If, like the 
duke, the reader has hitherto imagined that 
Marjorie’s aunt was old and ugly, he has only 
himself to blame, for the present writer has 
said nothing of the kind, and this young 
American girl was beautiful as the morning. 

While she and De Groot were trying to 
come to some understanding of each other’s 
purposes and desires, an older woman alighted 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


223 


from the carriage, — a grim New England 
duenna, who looked about her with an air that 
seemed to say that if she chose she could blow 
down the stone castle of Cohentz with her 
breath. 

“Well, if it isn’t Mis’ Pond!” exclaimed 
Marjorie, upon whom the sight of these two 
dear, familiar faces had a most inspiriting 
effect. Thereupon she made a wild dash for 
the two travellers, and had just emerged 
from their fervent embraces when Duke Otto 
reached the opening. 

“ Mon Dieu ! ” he cried, “ ’t is she, — my lady 
of Biddeford 1 ” 

And now let any artist who attempts to 
depict this young man, as he steps forward 
with beaming hospitality and delight, be care- 
ful to represent him as the most gracious 
image of a gallant gentleman, for so in reality 
he looked. 

He welcomed the two ladies as if each were 
a princess of the royal blood, and led them 
into his old castle as if it had been built merely 
for their accommodation. 


224 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


In a few moments after their arrival, the 
banquet-table in the great hall was spread and 
such a luncheon served as De Groot, that able 
major-domo, had no need to blush for. Yet, 
notwithstanding this warm welcome, the little 
party placed themselves around the board in 
no merry humor. 

It was natural that Miss Belinda should bear 
no extra good-will to this gentleman, whose 
pretensions to the throne of Avaril had borne 
so hard upon her own family. In truth, her 
manner was frosty, and the duke and Marjorie 
had the conversation pretty much to them- 
selves. 

But this could not last long in such an at- 
mosphere of pure sunshine as this amiable 
young man shed around. In spite of herself. 
Miss Belinda melted a little, as did her excel- 
lent duenna also. They bethought them of re- 
ports they had heard of the disinclination of 
Duke Otto to be made king, and how it was 
said that the conspiracy had been hatched by 
certain noblemen of Cohentz, who were averse 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


225 


to the long regency necessary under a child- 
queen. As to his offence against themselves, 
that was quite another affair, but they were 
forced to believe that he had done all he could 
to repair it. 

“ Ah, yes, mademoiselle,” he said, earnestly, 
looking at Miss Belinda, “by this time the 
government has proof of the innocence of 
monsieur, your brother, and he is free. I know 
this to be true, and, also, I must say to you 
that it was only by main force that I was hin- 
dered from delivering myself to the authorities 
in order to put an end to the wrong he suf- 
fered.” 

“Yes, I see how it was,” murmured Mar- 
jorie; “ those three men upstairs that will have 
you king whether or no, they would not let 
you go.” 

The duke smiled, but continued without 
otherwise noticing her remark: — 

“ I assure you that, whatever the conse- 
quences to myself, had I dreamed of the 
trouble I was bringing upon Mr. Westbrook, I 


226 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


would have made no effort to save myself at 
his cost. You cannot forgive me, but do you 
believe what I say is true ? ” 

Those he addressed for a half-second looked 
at one another, then answered with one ac- 
cord : — 

“I do.” 

They were impulsive feminine creatures, you 
see, who trusted to their own instincts, which 
assured them that this young man was not the 
monster he had been made to appear. 

“As to forgiveness,” added Miss Belinda, 
with much sweetness and dignity, “ that is a 
question for my brother to decide, but he is 
generous and noble.” 

The duke smiled at her cleverness in neither 
giving nor refusing him a too hasty pardon, 
perhaps consoling himself with the thought 
that it was not altogether beyond his reach. 

The feeling of constraint with which they 
had seated themselves at the table passed 
away. The duke made himself as agreeable as 
he could, which was very agreeable indeed. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


227 


The two ladies related their experiences since 
their search for Marjorie began. They told of 
the journeys they had made, what obstacles 
they had overcome, how locked doors opened 
for them, and “ No ” had often changed to “Yes,” 
even the churliest individual, on learning their 
errand, seeming eager to help them. While 
in Marll they had been guests of the American 
consul, and the government had furnished the 
means of their safe conveyance to the castle 
in Cohentz, where it was thought the kid- 
napped child might be found. 

At this point the duke shrugged his 
shoulders, declaring that, under the circum- 
stances, it was no more than mademoiselle had 
a right to demand. “ The government is 
under obligations to your family for the pres- 
ent safety of the queen,” he cried, bowing to 
Marjorie. 

“ This obligation was recognized by the 
prime minister in an interview I had with 
him,” said Miss Belinda. 

“ The great Boom Boom under an obliga- 


228 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


tion to me ? ” Fancy that ! ” exclaimed Mar- 
jorie. “ Did he look over the top of your head 
when he mentioned it } ” 

“ Ah, little one, you who know the world so 
well not to have discovered yet that even aged 
prime ministers do not lose the opportunity 
to look at beautiful young ladies ! ” cried the 
duke. 

“ The prime minister’s favor was already be- 
spoken by my niece,” Aunt Belinda answered. 
“ He was pleased to express himself enchanted 
with her courage and the spirit with which she 
played the queen. He told me that he had 
but the smallest expectation that a child like 
her would ever have the courage to do what 
he asked of her.” 

“ I should n’t have done it if it had n’t been 
for that order for papa’s release he promised 
me. I think we have been cheated all round,” 
said Marjorie, with a toss of her head. 

At this moment a servant brought a mes- 
sage to the duke, who, excusing himself, gave 
our party of Americans an opportunity to con- 
verse in private. 


CHAPTER XXI 

N otwithstanding her impatience, 

Marjorie was forced by her aunt to give 
a circumstantial account of all that had be- 
fallen her since her arrival in Marll. This 
done, her own turn came. 

Before starting on this journey to Cohentz, 
it seems that her aunt had communicated 
with Mr. Westbrook, who was then under 
custody, not obtaining his release until a few 
hours after their departure. Mr. Westbrook 
was in utter ignorance of what had befallen 
his daughter until told by Belinda, who per- 
ceived that, however disquieting to him in 
his position, he should be in possession of 
certain facts before her own plans could be 
made. 

No doubt Marjorie’s fond parent greatly 
chafed at his enforced inaction in this matter 
and the consequent setting forth of the two 


2 30 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


ladies without masculine escort, but Belinda 
was not to be stayed, and in truth there 
seemed much necessity for haste. So at last 
she fared forth, with his sanction and a good 
courage, on her rough journey. If her search 
was successful she was to send him a de- 
spatch to that effect, and carry Marjorie to 
Paris, where he would join them the instant 
he should be permitted to leave Marll. 

“ But why was it that you did not get the 
telegram that papa sent immediately after we 
reached Marll } ” Marjorie enquired. 

“ Because just after you left Paris I received 
an invitation to visit two young ladies whom 
I fell in with at Oxford,” Aunt Belinda ex- 
plained. “ They were daughters of a very 
grand nobleman, and the invitation was for a 
week at their country seat, — quite too good to 
be refused.” 

“ But I thought you did n’t like the aris- 
tocracy,” Marjorie persisted, much puzzled. 

“ One does not travel, if one has any sense, 
with a bandage over one’s eyes,” replied her 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


231 


aunt. “ I wish to see all classes of society, 
and not be told afterwards when I make an 
assertion of any one of them that I have had 
no opportunity of judging.” 

“ I reckon your auntie has changed some 
of her ideas,” interposed Mis’ Pond, with the 
air of one who has a grievance. “ The folks 
over here have been real polite to her, I allow, 
but a young and — ” The speaker paused for 
a moment to regard the exquisite loveliness of 
Belinda, but either she had no eye for beauty 
or flattery was against her principles, for all 
she said was : “ A young and real hearty look- 
ing girl like her can ’t judge as can a plain, 
middle-aged woman, and the question is, how 
do those same folks treat me ? ” 

Here she paused again as if to give Belinda 
an opportunity to reply, but as no reply was 
forthcoming she closed her remarks with an 
expressive “ humph ! ” 

On rejoining his guests, the duke informed 
them that the message which Belinda had 
given him for Mr. Westbrook had been sent. 


232 A CHILD OF GLEE 

and all arrangements made for the continua- 
tion of their journey, which the ladies desired 
should be as soon as possible. The road be- 
yond the castle toward the frontier town where 
they were to take the train for Paris was 
exceedingly rough, and as the horses were 
pretty well worn out he advised them not to 
set forth until nightfall. 

To relieve the weariness of waiting he 
offered to show them over the castle, which, 
having been restored from the outer stockade 
to the summit of the watch-tower, was well 
worth seeing. It differed in only a few feat- 
ures from those impregnable fortresses from 
which the barons of the middle ages defied 
even the king himself. The frowning walls 
of masonry were broken by more windows 
than could have been allowed in those days, 
when the first necessity of a dwelling was a 
means of defence. Some of the apartments 
were furnished with modern comforts, and por- 
traits of Duke Otto’s line hung along the 
walls of a long corridor which answered well 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


233 


enough to the modern picture gallery. These 
ancestors of Duke Otto, whether courtier, man- 
at-arms, dame or damosel, wore the noble air 
that was noticeable in his own person. This 
loftiness stamped upon so many faces was 
very impressive, and even Marjorie, although 
in a child’s vague way, perceived that this 
race had played its part in the world with 
purpose, courage and magnanimity. More- 
over, these virtues were in most imposing 
attire, in pearl-bedecked doublets and scarlet 
cloaks, in velvet-embroidered mantles and puffs 
of lace, and ornamented with jewels galore. 

Before two of these old portraits they 
stopped as if by the detaining hand of one 
long dead and gone, eager to reconnect him- 
self for a moment with his kind. 

The first was that of a man in the flower 
of youth and beauty, who held your glance 
by the pride and happiness of his own. 

“ Life was a holiday in his time, a splendid 
show, for the feudal period had just come to a 
close,” Duke Otto explained as three pairs of 


234 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


questioning eyes were raised to his, “ and the 
taste for pleasure and art brought the nobles 
from their gloomy old castles to the court. 
Certain old songs written by this Roderick of 
Cohentz and sung to this day by his country- 
men prove him to have been a poet as well as 
a courtier. One easily believes, too, that the 
firm hand that toys with the hilt of his sword 
would not be loath, if need be, to plunge it 
into any miscreant, though doubtless he had 
graved upon its blade the Christian virtues of 
mercy to the weak and defence of the help- 
less.” 

“ Poet, courtier and soldier, all in one,” cried 
Marjorie with animation. “ Oh, if I were a 
man, that is the kind I would be.” 

“ In our time if a man succeeds in being 
either one he is well pleased with himself. 
There are no such men now as this jewel of 
the court, this soldier-poet,” cried Belinda, 
walking on with a toss of her pretty head. 

The young duke followed, crying, “ Ah, 
mademoiselle, he was one thing more ; he was 


A CHILD OF GLEE 235 

a brave and ardent lover,” to which she an- 
swered still more scornfully. 

“ A lover! What of that ? Lovers are to 
be seen any day.” 

Whereupon, wishing the duke to know that 
in this particular, at least, her own family was 
not behind his, Marjorie added : — 

“ Lovers ? I should say so ; even in America. 
Why, Aunt Belinda herself has had plen — ” 
“Not such lovers as this Roderick of 
Cohentz, I assure you,” declared the duke, an- 
ticipating the end of Marjorie’s sentence, which 
had been stopped in the middle at the bidding 
of Miss Belinda’s frown. “ He it was who, 
having received his death-wound on his lady’s 
errand, caused himself to be strapped to his 
horse and rode alone in his agony over these 
mountains to keep his tryst with her.” 

The two walked on, leaving Marjorie and 
Mis’ Pond still looking at the ardent Roderick. 

“Dear me,”‘‘sighed Marjorie, “’tis a fine 
thing to have a lot of grand ancestors like the 
duke’s, and of each portrait an interesting story 


236 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


to tell. I wish we Westbrooks had a family 
portrait gallery, but, oh dear ! oh dear ! what a 
funny lot they would be. First, there would 
be Thomas Westbrook, whose portrait hangs 
in the town-hall at Biddeford. I have been 
told that he was a very good and honorable 
man, but he does not look as if he ever rode 
bleeding over the mountains to keep tryst with 
a lady. His son Thomas was papa’s grand- 
father, and I have heard him say that, when he 
was a boy at school in Bangor, his grandfather 
used to come down once every month to see 
him and mortified him dreadfully. He always 
wore a white beaver hat and a long brown 
surtout, and carried a turkey by the legs 
as a present to the schoolmaster. Of course 
we would have a full-length picture of him, 
and — Why, Mis’ Pond, what’s the matter 
Your eyes are snapping dreadfully.” 

In truth, the aspect of this excellent lady 
had, during Marjorie’s chatter, undergone a 
strange change, which, no doubt, was the ex- 
pression of her disapproval of these remarks. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


237 


“ You have no call to despise your own folks, 
Marjorie Westbrook,” she said, sternly. “ Not 
one of those decked-up ancestors of the duke 
was any more respected than old Thomas 
Westbrook, your great-grandfather, who was 
the first of his name to settle in Biddeford. 
He came from Bangor an’ took up a tract of 
wild land, just outside what is now the town. 
He had jest made a little clearin’ an’ got a 
roof over the heads of his wife and children 
when the Revolutionary War broke out, and 
off he goes to fight for his country. He was 
patriot an’ his wife was a patriot, too, for all 
the time he was gone she kept the family 
together. She baked an’ brewed, an’ made 
their clothes, made homespun for the soldiers, 
too, and then at night she would go out upon 
the clearin’ an burn brush ! Do you sup- 
pose any of these bedizened females ever did 
that.?” 

“ No,” answered Marjorie, her eyes upon a 
regal dame in a robe of red velvet and a little 
jewelled coronet upon her head. “No, I do n’t 
suppose they did.” 


238 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“ The Westbrooks did n’t have any title or 
any duchy, but they have always been in good 
orthodox standin’, an’ folks showed their 
trust in ’em by appointin’ ’em to public offices. 
They served as selectmen or town clerk, or 
moderator, or overseers of the poor,” Mis’ 
Pond went on, determined that Marjorie 
should appreciate the heights to which her 
family had climbed, “ an’ they thought a sight 
of education. Old Deacon Jonathan West- 
brook, your father’s grandfather, that you have 
been sneerin’ at, gave the Lyceum to the 
town. He took a prominent part in all lead- 
in’ questions himself, and exerted himself 
considerable to get the State Liquor Law 
passed an’ effect other reforms. Both his 
sons, Amos and James, were sent to college 
an’ — ” 

“Amos is grandpa; I know about him'' said 
Marjorie. “What did James do? ” 

“ He was a real promisin’ young man, but 
he died.” 

“ Oh, well, they do that in the most* aristo- 
cratic families,” said Marjorie, laughing. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 239 

While Mis’ Pond had been thus discours- 
ing, the duke and Miss Belinda had gone on 
to the extreme end of the gallery. Taking a 
sweeping glance of the noble company, the 
young American girl drew a deep sigh. 

“ Such a gallery of family portraits,” she 
said at last, turning her clear young eyes upon 
her companion, “ must be a great incentive to 
noble conduct. Here, I should fancy you 
could easily invigorate your courage and culti- 
vate the sentiment of honor and personal 
dignity.” She sighed again, perhaps this time 
with the same regret which Marjorie had ex- 
pressed. Yet the conduct of the representa- 
tive of her own race, her brother, certainly 
seemed far more honorable than that of the 
young man of this noble house. 

Perhaps the duke guessed her thought, 
for suddenly he said : — 

“ Dear mademoiselle, try not to judge me so 
harshly. Perhaps these ancestors of mine 
have influenced me otherwise than you think. 
All these dead men have, in their day, been 


240 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of 
Cohentz, and the policy of Avaril under the 
regency is thought by our people to be op- 
posed to the interest of the duchy. You 
think, no doubt, that from personal ambition I 
seek to usurp Margaretta’s throne. Little do 
you guess the pressure brought to bear upon 
a man situated as I am, the sole hope of a 
patriotic party. Neither am I myself devoid 
of loyalty. I love Cohentz, and her welfare is 
so dear to me that I would sacrifice in her 
interest my own wishes. Yet I am often 
restrained by the knowledge that I have not 
the abilities by which alone a man can rule 
a great nation. No, mademoiselle; on the 
contrary, I was born with a passionate love 
of adventure, — of a free life. So you see 
my duty in the matter is not so simple after 
all." 

He spoke so sadly and with such candor 
that all that remained of Belinda’s resentment 
melted away, never to return, and she gave 
him her hand in token thereof. He had just 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


241 


raised the slim fingers to his lips when Mar- 
jorie came forward with a desire for informa- 
tion concerning one of the portraits. 

“ I do believe this man was a Crusader, for 
he wears a great cross on the breast,” she said, 
excitedly, “ and he has the nicest face, I think, 
of them all.” 

“You have divined the truth. He was a 
Crusader, and the founder of our house. Yes, 
yes, be not so impatient, my child. I will tell 
you about him at once. 

“When Pope Gregory VIII called upon all 
Christian princes to leave off fighting each 
other, and to go on a crusade to recover the 
Holy Sepulchre from the Mohammedans, Fer- 
dinand I sat on the throne of Avaril. You 
are a famous historian, little mademoiselle ; do 
you remember the part Avaril played in the 
crusades ? ” 

Marjorie did not reply with her usual readi- 
ness. She wished that she had not been left in 
such mortifying ignorance of the history of 
this country, but the truth is, she could remem- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


242 

ber nothing at all about it. At last she said, 
adroitly : — 

“ I suppose Ferdinand was one of those 
princes that Richard I of England, called 
Lion-Heart, quarrelled with. I remember that, 
one by one, they went back to their own 
homes, leaving the army so weak that, 
though Lion-Heart got within sight of the 
Holy City, he was n’t able to capture it. I 
remember reading that he climbed up to the 
top of the Mount of Olives, where he was told 
he would have a fine view of Palestine ; but 
when he could have looked upon it, he covered 
his face with his mantle, saying, “ They who 
are not worthy to ^win it are not worthy to 
behold it.” Lion-Heart was a brave knight, 
but a bad, bad son; he broke his father’s 
heart.” 

“That was John,” interrupted Aunt Belinda. 
But Marjorie, thinking, no doubt, to hide her 
ignorance of one country by her knowledge of 
another, kept on, unheeding the correction : — 

“ Their father was Henry 1 1, the first Plan- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


243 


taganet. A poor old king he was, obliged to 
keep his queen shut up to prevent her conspir- 
ing with her sons against him. The eldest son 
was leading an army against him when he was 
taken ill, and, believing that he would die, he 
sent a message to the king, begging him to 
come to him and forgive him. But, oh dear, 
oh dear! so treacherous the young man had 
shown himself, that the king thought very 
likely this was a trick to make him prisoner, so 
he only sent his ring and his pardon ; and the 
young prince died kissing the ring, longing in 
vain to see his father’s face once more. Then 
Richard, the second son, with the aid of the 
French king, made war upon him, — poor old 
man 1 And he was worn out now with all his 
wars and trouble, — with his bad wife and his 
disobedient sons, — and had no heart to fight 
any more. So he said he would make such 
terms as they liked, and promised to pardon 
Richard and the friends he had got to help 
him. But when the list of these was brought 
to the king, and he saw on it the name of John, 


244 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


his best-loved son, who had never before 
rebelled against him, — then, his heart being 
broken, he died. He compared himself to an 
old eagle torn to pieces by his eaglets. Rich- 
ard was said to grieve bitterly at his father’s 
death, and when he saw his body in the church 
he cried out, ‘ Alas ! it was I who killed him ! ’ 
He did n’t know any better, you see. Aunt 
Belinda not being there to tell him. And then 
he went crusading, but he did n’t have any luck, 
which served him right. He did not live very 
long after he got back to England again, and 
before he died he expressed the wish that his 
body should be laid at the feet of his father in 
Fontevrand Abbey, in token of his penitence. 
And now the stone figures of his father and 
mother and himself all lie on one monument as 
sociable as you please, so that one might think 
they had been a beautiful, harmonious family.” 

“Well, mercy on us! are you going on in 
this way forever ? ” asked Mis’ Pond, as Mar- 
jorie stopped for a moment to take breath. “ I 
thought you could n’t wait a minute to hear 


A CHILD OF GLEE 245 

about this young fellow that the duke was to 
tell us about.” 

“ I can ’t. I can ’t wait a minute',' cried 
Marjorie, whose mind now came back with a 
bound to the portrait. 


CHAPTER XXII 


‘^TN the time of King Ferdinand,” began 
1 the duke, smiling at his eager young lis- 
tener, “ there was a certain young man called, 
I know not why, Otto the Lucky.” 

“ Perhaps because he was so handsome,” 
Marjorie suggested, looking at the portrait. 
“It is lucky to be handsome.” 

“ Perhaps because he was resolute to do 
what he had set his mind on, for that he 
was so no one can doubt who looks at his 
spirited young face. A determined person is 
always what the foolish call lucky,” added 
Miss Belinda, who being so resolute herself 
certainly ought to know. 

“ He was not a knight at first, but a minstrel 
without any settled purpose, as it seems, be- 
yond that of enjoying himself. He led a rov- 
ing kind of life, wandering from place to place, 
sure everywhere of a welcome. Imagine him. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


247 


then, as he approaches some huge feudal dwell- 
ing, some castle like this, his hair flowing free 
under a little cap, and his alert young body 
clad in tights and doublet, with a mantle over 
his shoulders perhaps, if the weather is cold, 
and his harp in his hand. 

“ Ladies,” said Duke Otto, here interrupting 
himself, “ as I can furnish you no better enter- 
tainment, suppose we descend to the barbican, 
and, as I tell the story, proceed again over the 
castle, reconstructing the picturesque feudal 
time, which too often seems to us but some en- 
chanting, yet confused dream.” 

He looked at Belinda, who gave assent, and 
the whole party, leaving the gallery, followed 
him down the twisting tower staircases to the 
open and thence to the barbican, a small outer 
fort, which in case of attack must be won 
before the moat that surrounded the castle 
could be reached. 

“ Our minstrel, however, was sure of a warm 
welcome,” said the duke. “No iron grating- 
barred him out. The gate-watch begged his 


248 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


company ere he went his way to the fireside in 
the donjon-keep, where the baron would be 
sitting with his pet hawk, hooded and belled, on 
his fist, his hounds lying at his feet, where he 
would find the priest bending over his lectern, 
the little heir with his books on a stool at his 
side, and the lady of the castle with her bower- 
maidens at work upon their tapestries. All 
these will listen spellbound to the sweet 
singer, but first he must stop to amuse the 
gate-watch, and to listen to the castle news : 
how my lord had returned that year from the 
Holy Land, grievously wounded, and swore by 
the rood to go no more to the wars, yet, ere 
they had healed, he was fighting again with 
the barons against the king ; how a good and 
true knight had been shot by accident the day 
previous at the chase, and when the gay caval- 
cade of lord, ladies and children with hawk 
and hound that had galloped pell mell that 
morning over the drawbridge returned at night 
they brought back his dea ' body with the 
game. And they told h.v the young heir. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


249 


the lord’s eldest born, was to be knighted 
on the morrow, and the minstrel promised 
himself that he would stay to witness the 
ceremonies. So, having rested himself, Otto 
the Lucky started for the donjon-keep.” 

With these words the duke led his guests 
over the drawbridge. It was wide enough for 
a squadron to pass over, and light enough to 
be raised by a single man, as the duke illus- 
trated. 

“ At the first approach of danger,” he ex- 
plained, “ the drawbridge was drawn up and 
the portcullis let down, so that the attacking 
party found a water-filled moat, on the further 
side of which rose a ponderous stone wall with 
but one opening, covered by an iron grating. 
If they forced it there was another wall to be 
taken before they reached the flanking towers 
with donjon-keep, in which were the apartments 
of the lord and his family. The keeps were 
sometimes provisioned for a year and had a 
spring of fresh water inside the walls, being 
thereby enabled to withstand a long siege. A 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


250 

narrow, walled walk led from tower to tower, 
the battlements being pierced by loop-holes be- 
hind which archers could be stationed. Such 
a castle in a siege must have been a lively place 
indeed, its solid walls shaken by the force of 
the enemy’s battering-rams, its battlements 
cracked and falling under volleys of man- 
gonel stones, while fire-arrows and boiling oil 
and stones were spat out of its innumerable 
mouths upon the besiegers. Men-at-arms in 
clanking armor swarmed through the winding 
passages, the walls echoed the orders of cap- 
tains, and the ropes creaked with the weight of 
baskets of missiles drawn up to the top of the 
towers. 

“ But even in feudal days men could not 
always be fighting, and now from the watch- 
tower a horn was blown and a procession went 
forth to the hunt, or the women and children 
descended the tower staircase to meet a return- 
ing raiding party, or to welcome some lordly 
visitor who, with his retinue, is just within the 
gates.” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


251 


What a fine place would the castle be for a 
game of hide-and-seek, Marjorie thought; but 
its maze of passages, its bottomless staircases 
and blind alleys had been designed for the dis- 
comfiture of enemies, and without a guide a 
stranger might be hopelessly lost in it. 

Passing up the tower staircase, our friends at 
last reached the donjon-keep. 

“ Here,” said the duke, when they had 
inspected this great apartment and seated 
themselves on the benches and stools which 
were placed about the great fireplace; “here 
was the minstrel received with the heartiest 
welcome, placed by the fire and refreshed with 
meat and wine. The baron and his knights, 
my lady with her children and bower-maidens, 
gathered around him. Not a pair of lovers 
tarried behind the arras or tapestries that hung 
over the embrasured windows, where they were 
wont to hide themselves. Last of all came 
Godfrey, the heir, with Rosabel, the fairest 
damsel, thought Otto the Lucky, that he had 
ever seen. The sight of her golden head, so 


252 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


shapely and sweet, with its close fillet and long, 
yellow braids, so near the ugly shock-head of 
Godfrey, drove him mad. No doubt, little 
mademoiselle,” the duke interrupted himself to 
say, “ you understand that this is but the mod- 
ern way of saying that he fell in love with 
Rosabel on the spot. Though but an humble 
minstrel, did he despair ? I assure you to 
the contrary, little mademoiselle. It is not the 
way of my race. He applied himself to 
the task of winning Rosabel’s favor, and as 
he sang his voice struck on her heart like a 
battering-ram on the castle masonry.” 

“ Oh dear, oh dear ! ” cried Marjorie, turning 
to Mis’ Pond, who sat nearest her, “ why do n’t 
we live in a castle with a donjon-keep and port- 
cullises and things ? And why do n’t we have 
minstrels fall in love with us all in a minute 
and sing to us like a battering-ram ? ” 

“ A mediaeval castle, my child, must have 
been a most uncomfortable dwelling,” replied 
the duke, caressing his moustache to hide a 
smile, at the idea of the prosaic Mis’ Pond 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


253 


in the role of a heroine of romance. “ Imag- 
ine yourself here in the bitter weather of 
winter. With a whole tree in the fireplace 
this apartment would not be warm. The 
chill of these stone walls would make it- 
self felt, I assure you. The tiled floors, 
though covered with rushes, the skins of wild 
beasts, perhaps, here and there, and after the 
wars with the Mohammedans, a few Saracenic 
and Persian rugs, would freeze the feet. The 
tapestries hanging over the doors did not keep 
out the draughts. Look behind you, mademoi- 
selle, and you will perceive how the arras by 
the great door yonder are, even on this soft 
midsummer day, blown to and fro by currents 
of air.” 

Once more the little party looked about the 
spacious apartment, bedchamber, sitting-room, 
dining-room and oratory all in one. The im- 
mense bed on a dais at one end, reaching with 
its huge posts nearly to the ceiling of the lofty 
chamber, was a room of itself, leaving a great 
nearly empty space, surrounded by tapestried 


254 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


walls, along which were ranged clothes-presses 
and great carved dower-chests, serving as 
seats. 

There was a dresser with shelves for furnish- 
ings for the banquet-table, — flagons and 
beakers and plates of gold, and against the 
dull colors of the tapestry gleamed an ivory 
image of the Virgin, before which was a silver 
lamp, which nine or ten centuries earlier would 
have been kept burning there. 

“ And these old chests and benches are the 
ancestors of our bureaus, sofas and chairs,” 
said Belinda, in a musing tone, “ and they in 
turn from still earlier and less comfortable 
forms. The men who wore those heavy suits 
of armor or harnesses of chain-mail that I saw 
in the great hall below had much to do in the 
world besides making war and the tourney. 
And more thinking went on under those iron 
head-pieces than we of our day perhaps imagine. 
For whereas we walk thoughtlessly along a 
beaten track, they were obliged to take each step 
with deliberation. His clumsy armor serves no 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


255 


other purpose now than for decoration or as 
curios, but his code of honor is still that of 
every true gentleman. Let us hear, if you 
please, how your ancestor proceeded with his 
wooing.” 

“ The next morning when all the castle-folk 
assembled in the court-yard to witness the 
ceremony of knighting, Otto was among them. 
With jealous eyes, no doubt, he watched God- 
frey take from the hands of an old warrior 
his shield and helmet, saw him kneel to re- 
ceive the blow upon the shoulder by which 
the honor of knighthood was conferred, and 
arise Sir Knight, pledged by his oath to ‘ right 
poor ladies’ harms.’ 

“ On the field, however, whither they next 
betook themselves for the last act of the cere- 
mony, where the new-made knights put their 
horses through their paces and then rode at 
the quintain — ” 

“ And what may that be } ” interrupted Mar- 
jorie. 

“ A wooden manikin, my child, at which 


256 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


the knights tilted. It was the crucial test, 
into which each youth flung himself with all 
his might. On the field where the newly 
made knights were exercised, Sir Godfrey ac- 
quitted himself with less than his usual skill. 
Perhaps the sight of his lady so gracious to 
the poor minstrel unnerved him ; at all events, 
when the great moment came and he struck 
with his lance at the quintain, ’twas so un- 
skilfully done that he received the blow in the 
back from the bag of sand that was arranged 
to sling from the crossbar upon the awkward 
tilter. 

“In the shout that followed, none laughed 
louder than Otto, insomuch that the old baron, 
father of Sir Godfrey, stung by the disgrace of 
his son, cried out : — 

“ ‘ Let the minstrel himself have a lance 
and better the stroke, if he can.’ 

“ Being furnished with the necessary equip- 
ments, nothing loath, Otto the Lucky leaped 
upon a horse, and as he reached the quintain 
leaned forward in his saddle and hit the tar- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 257 

get straight in the middle, by which unprac- 
tised feat he was made a knight forthwith.” 

“ Were not the proceedings somewhat irreg- 
ular } ” asked Miss Belinda. “ I thought the 
candidate for knighthood spent the previous 
night in a vigil over his arms.” 

“ Oh, surely not always. Many received the 
honor off-hand,” answered Duke Otto, but 
with a sly smile that convinced Belinda that 
he added a touch now and then to his tale to 
please his romantic listener. 

“ Raised to the rank of a knight. Sir Otto, 
as his title was, aspired to the hand of Rosabel, 
but she flouted Otto as she had flouted God- 
frey. Most likely she was an ambitious young 
woman and desired a man of fame for a hus- 
band, for both of her suitors went to the war. 

“ Now the first and the second crusade were 
holy wars, directed against the infidel for the 
rescue of lands which might be considered the 
rightful heritage of Christendom, but I regret 
to be forced to remind you that this third war, 
of which your much admired Lion-Heart was 


25 « 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


the hero, was not inspired by the least sem- 
blance of a religious motive. The conquest 
of Egypt was the real object of the third cru- 
sade, and the so-called Pilgrims of the Cross 
were bent on political conquest, or roving 
forays, or, as in the case of my lovesick an- 
cestor, a desire for military glory. 

“ My learned friend, no doubt, knows very 
well that the third crusade ended in failure,” 
continued the duke, with a wave of his hand in 
the direction of Marjorie ; “ nevertheless, the 
object for which Sir Godfrey and Sir Otto had 
set out for the Holy Land was gained, for both 
had won that glory they had sought. For his 
faithful service Sir Otto had been given this 
little duchy of Cohentz, and both suitors were 
prepared to enlist upon another crusade, this 
time upon the heart of the proud Rosabel. 

“ And now, may it please you, mesdames, we 
will ascend the watch-tower, from which, no 
doubt, Rosabel looked forth daily, in hopes of 
beholding those pilgrims as they were ‘ hasten- 
ing home from the war.’ ” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


^59 


As soon as they had climbed the narrow- 
staircase that led to the tower, Marjorie went to 
the parapet and therefrom surveyed a great 
stretch of country. No such sight as the fair 
Rosabel might have seen, no knights with 
glittering lances, no troubadours or pilgrims 
met her eye, but far away on a hardly discern- 
ible road that wound around a mountain she 
plainly beheld a number of modern horse- 
men. 

At her excited exclamation Duke Otto and 
Belinda also ran to the parapet. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


UNT BELINDA was the first to speak. 



“ Quick ! ” she said, seizing the duke 
by the arm. “ They are government troops in 
search of Your Grace.” 

“ Very likely, mademoiselle,” he answered, 
lightly, “ but it will be a long day ere they suc- 
ceed in their quest. But, ladies, I fear we 
must descend at once. You will be unmolested 
in your apartments, save perhaps a moment’s 
inspection of them by an officer. As for me, I 
must find Von Orfmann.” 

The ascent from the ground floor to this, 
the topmost pinnacle of the castle, even with 
rests at all interesting points, had been suffi- 
ciently long, but the descent seemed inter- 
minable. 

“ It is thought in Marll that you have 
crossed the frontier into France,” said Belinda 
to the duke. “ Oh, why did you not do so ? ” 





“‘QUICK, THEY ARE GOVERNMENT TROOPS.”’ 




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A CHILD OF GLEE 


261 


“ Pray, mademoiselle, do not concern your- 
self for a moment,” he implored. “ If the hus- 
sars enter the castle except under the escort of 
my men, they will too surely be entrapped in 
the blind alleys and made prisoners. As for 
me, who know every turn and every winding, 
I can evade them with the utmost ease.” 

“ Will the castle be besieged ? ” called out 
Marjorie, who was clattering down the stairs in 
advance. 

“No, no, no, little mademoiselle; you are 
not in the least danger, I assure you,” he 
answered. 

“ We are in no danger,” cried Belinda. 
“ Our errand here is known, nor is it supposed 
that we are in sympathy with you. It is you 
alone who are in any danger.” 

Much to Marjorie’s disgust she was forced 
to retreat with Mis’ Pond and her Aunt Belinda 
to a part of the castle where nothing could be 
known as to the manoeuvres below, except, 
perhaps, such as might be performed in the 
court-yard, a view of which was to be had by 


262 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


standing on a dower-chest under one of the 
loop-holes. 

From this point of observation she soon saw 
the horsemen gallop into the court-yard. They 
were a detachment of the queen’s hussars, 
whose uniform she had learned to know when 
she was at the palace. 

“ I should think Duke Otto would have 
defended the moat,” she said, evidently dis- 
gusted that the affair was progressing so 
tamely ; “ and I do wish he had told us where 
he meant to hide himself, for it would be 
so much more interesting. The hussars are 
dismounting and are coming into the castle. 
Let us go into the corridor and perhaps we can 
find out what is going on.” 

“ You are not goin’ to do anythin’ of the 
kind,” cried Mis’ Pond, catching her by the 
arm. “ You are goin’ to stay right under my 
eye every minute until you are with your 
father. Do you think that we wish to chase 
over the Continent for you a second time ? ” 

“ Why, do you think they would carry me off 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


263 


by mistake for the duke as they did for the 
queen ? ” asked Marjorie, with a gurgling 
laugh. “ Well, if I were not so anxious to see 
papa I ’d be glad to go, for I can ’t help liking 
Duke Otto.” 

Having made this assertion she drew back 
her head and looked from one to the other as 
if expecting a storm of reproaches. As none 
were made, she added distressfully: — 

“ Considering the mean trick he played on 
papa it seems as if I ought n’t to, does n’t 
it.^^” 

Mis’ Pond sniffed. “ It ’s our duty to for- 
give our enemies, I suppose.” 

Belinda looked away, and made no reply. 

Marjorie then went back to the loop-hole, 
but nothing transpired within her range of 
vision. 

In about an hour after the arrival of the hus- 
sars, footsteps were heard in the corridor and 
an officer with two men, escorted by De Groot, 
desired the privilege of searching the apart- 
ments. This was, of course, accorded them. 


264 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“You will not find him whom you seek 
here,” said Miss Belinda, with her dead-doing 
eyes fixed upon the captain of the detachment. 
“ The government you represent, however, has 
aided me so much in my errand here that it 
would ill become me to hinder you in yours.” 

The officer permitted himself the pleasure of 
exchanging some conversation with this young 
girl, expressing first his regret that she had 
been forced to undertake so disagreeable a 
journey and also to offer his congratulations 
that it had been so successful. 

When the hussars left the apartment Mis’ 
Pond turned to Belinda : — 

“ Seems to me you laid yourself out some for 
that young man,” she said. 

“ Yes,” replied Belinda, coolly, “ I did.” 

For a few moments they heard the clatter of 
heavy boots along the stone floors of the corri- 
dors, and in due course of time watched the 
hussars remount and ride out of the court- 
yard. The duke was not with them, and De 
Groot soon appeared with a request from him 
to descend into the hall. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


265 


As they entered this apartment he came 
hastily forward with his hand outstretched, 
saying : — 

“ I could not depart without seeing you 
again. Yes, mesdames, I am starting at once 
for France. Ah, to you who live like the 
flowers, without reproach, how ugly must 
flight look.” 

“ It looks very interesting and exciting,” 
cried Marjorie, “and I hope with all my heart 
that you won’t be caught.” 

The duke paid no attention to this kind 
speech. He seemed conscious only of the 
presence of Belinda, who, standing in the light 
of the tapers, was well worth looking at. Her 
eyes, under sweet, bent brows, burned brightly 
upon him from the soft whiteness of her face, 
and for a moment her voice trembled. 

“ Oh,” she said, “ the road over the moun- 
tains will be dangerous. Why did you come 
to the castle ? ” 

“ It was fate, mademoiselle, fate ; but I wish 
you to know that, whatever the consequence, 
I shall never regret it” 


266 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“You will be in danger at any moment of 
meeting government troops,” she went on. 
“ But there is a safer way. You shall have a 
seat in our carriage.” 

“ Mademoiselle forgets that her carriage will 
be searched by the soldiers if, as is likely, she 
is so unfortunate as to meet any. Besides,” he 
added, in a still lower voice, “ I have not yet 
been forgiven for having shielded myself at 
your cost.” 

“Your Grace,” interrupted Von Orfmann, 
now coming forward, “these ladies will pardon 
a hasty parting.” 

“ Oh,” cried Belinda, with a start, “ this gen- 
tleman will perhaps consider my plan, though 
you will not.” 

She then repeated it, forestalling the objec- 
tion which Duke Otto had made. 

“ My carriage is not likely to be searched, as 
I have the promise of the captain of the hus- 
sars of two of his men as an escort as far as 
. Beyond that town there is little dan- 
ger.” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 267 

Von Orfmann bowed, as Belinda thought, 
coldly. 

“ Mademoiselle is as amiable as she is brave. 
Yet the duke will hardly wish to secure his 
safety at the hazard of ladies.” 

“ Oh, plenty of men, brave ones, too, have — ” 
but nobody cared at this moment to listen to 
such a recital as Marjorie had in mind. 

“ Our risk is hardly worth speaking of, — you 
know it, monsieur,” cried Belinda. “ You do 
not trust me.” She turned to the duke with 
heightened color and reproachful eyes. “ Can 
it be true that you also distrust me ? By ac- 
cepting or refusing my help you will answer 
the question. Duke Otto, will you occupy a 
seat in my carriage ? ” 


CHAPTER XXIV 


W HEN the kindly curtains of night had 
fallen, Belinda’s carriage passed out 
of the castle court-yard into the road. Beyond 
the moat, 9-t the specified place, they found the 
hussars awaiting them, who, having inspected 
the occupants of the carriage, set off toward 
the frontier. 

As they rode in advance, the coachman was 
forced to accept their pace. 

“ Sacramento ! ” he cried in his beard (a false 
one of a ruddy color) ; “ at this rate it will 

take more than one night to reach .” 

You see that Belinda, as usual, had had her 
way. 

It was a lovely midsummer evening, with a 
full moon, under which the mountain scenery, 
though somewhat savage, was very beautiful. 
Sometimes the road led through deep cuts in 
the mountains, in which the sound of the 


A CHILD OF GLEE 269 

horses’ hoofs awoke such a clatter of echoes 
as made one quake to hear; sometimes through 
forests so densely canopied as to intercept 
every beam of light, where the air was dark 
and cold as in a vault, and those within the 
carriage, hidden by this thick darkness from 
each other, would assure themselves by the 
pressure of their hands that they were still all 
safe together. To shoot out from these grue- 
some spots into the moonlit spaces was an im- 
mense relief, for here, at least, if an enemy 
approached, he would not spring upon them 
unaware. 

The ladies seemed disinclined to talk, and 
soon even Marjorie’s chatter died away. 

Though somewhat more wild and rough, 
the journey was so like the one she had made 
in the royal coach that she was continually in 
mind of it. But while then she had been 
solely concerned for the safety of the queen, 
now she was concerned that the queen’s 
enemy should escape, — to contrive against 
her another plot, perhaps. 


270 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Once, she asked her companions what they 
supposed Margaretta would think if ever she 
came to hear how Duke Otto made his escape 
from Cohentz, but these ladies would never 
consider the question seriously of Marjorie’s 
friendship for the queen. 

“ You and I had nothin’ to do with it. It’s 
Belinda’s job,” said Mis’ Pond, whose good 
New England conscience reproached her con- 
tinually for not forbidding this wild plan, as a 
faithful duenna should. 

“ Well, I know I had nothing to do with it, 
but, oh dear, the queen will never know that,” 
Marjorie went on to bemoan herself. “ Be- 
sides, I was just as anxious as any one that 
Duke Otto shauld come away with us. It’s 
all very well for you, but in me it ’s perfectly 
horrid.” 

The carriage went on and on, the hussars 
moving before them like dark, lifeless shades 
in the dark places, with flashing steel in the 
light of the moon. No one slept. 

Twice they met armed men with whom the 


A CHILD OF GLEE 27 1 

guards spoke, who gave a hasty glance into 
the carriage and let them pass. 

And so with great self-gratulation they rode 

at last into the little town of , where 

their escort left them. A short ride now and 
they would be over the frontier. They would 
be in safety. 

Though the moon was going down, and it 
would soon be dark, they set out in the best 
of spirits. Having progressed a mile or two, 
their coachman turned around with a laugh : — 

“ Mademoiselle, we are close upon our jour- 
ney’s end.” 

“ Tra la, tra la,” sang Marjorie. 

There were no more dark forests or gloomy 
ravines. The well-worn road lay safe and easy 
under the good, quiet sky; yet presently Be- 
linda’s sharp ears caught an ominous sound 
far behind them. 

“ Listen ! ” she suddenly cried, interrupting 
an excellent story which the duke was telling. 

Their voices died away, and immediately 
the sound of horsemen was distinctly audible. 


272 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Whoever they were, or whatever their errand, 
the safest course for the little party was in 
flight, and Duke Otto urged his horses to 
their utmost speed. 

It was a mad race. Under the lash of the 
whip the horses strained every nerve, the car- 
riage jolted violently over impediments, or 
slung around the curves of the road with a 
dizzying force, and still Belinda urged : — 

“ Faster, faster.” 

Worn out by the long strain she had been 
under, Marjorie began to cry, and Mis’ Pond 
to groan, “ Oh, why had they left the home of 
the free to be imprisoned, kidnapped, chased 
by hussars?” she cried. In moments of such 
excitement one is not apt to be reasonable. 

A couple of miles had been covered when 
another ominous sound broke upon the ear. 
It was the rattling of one of the carriage 
wheels. 

Miss Belinda leaned forward and touched 
the duke’s shoulder. 

“ Do you hear that ? ” she said. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


273 


“ It will be impossible to go much farther,” 
he answered, calmly. “ Mademoiselle, our jour- 
ney together must soon end. Let me thank 
you now while I have time for the kindness 
that you have shown to me.” 

He turned and the bright moonlight struck 
full upon his handsome face. It had never 
looked more lovable. 

“ I have not known how to live well, per- 
haps,” the young man went on, “ but I think 
if the time is at hand I shall at least know 
how to die.” 

He drew in the horses and the carriage 
stopped. 

“ Oh, go on, go on,” cried Belinda, wildly. 
“ Go till the wheel drops off.” 

“ Mesdames,” he said, firmly, “ you must 
alight. I cannot go on without endangering 
your lives. Soon the hussars will be here and 
assist you to get to your destination. No 
doubt by some means they have learned of 
my escape, but remember I have your promise 
that you will not implicate yourself. The 


274 A CHILD OF GLEE 

government must never know that I took 
your coachman’s place with your knowledge.” 

“ That is true,” said Mis’ Pond, who was 
already on the ground, having gladly embraced 
the first opportunity to leave the carriage. 
“ You promised.” 

Belinda hurried Marjorie out of the vehicle, 
then followed herself. 

“ Do n’t give up yet. There is yet a chance 
to escape,” she cried, “ but you must hasten, 
for the horsemen are almost upon us.” 

They were indeed. At that moment there 
appeared around the curve in the road a party 
of men galloping toward them. 

The carriage had come to a stop upon an 
open plain, — with neither trees nor hollows 
to serve as a covert. 

“ It seems to me quite useless,” said the 
duke. “I had far rather give myself up here 
than to make an effort to escape which is so 
futile as to seem like the desperate action of 
an unreasoning animal. But you shall choose 
for me, mademoiselle. You, too, are proud 
and brave.” 


A CHILD OF GLEE 275 

Belinda’s eyes were wet, but she held her 
head high. 

“ Let us stay where we are, Your Grace.” 

There was nothing to do but to wait. 

Duke Otto stood by the horses’ heads, the 
others at his request in a group aside. 

“ Oh ! ” groaned Belinda to herself, “ after 
winning over Von Orfmann and the duke, 
after gaining the help of the captain of the 
hussars, and passing through all the perils of 
the mountain passes, to be defeated by a 
rickety wheel ! ” 

No one spoke as they stood there, breath- 
lessly watching the advancing horsemen. The 
moon had now slipped below the horizon, and 
the figures that flew along the road appeared 
merely as dark shapes from which no knowl- 
edge as to their purpose could be gathered. 

As they came within hailing distance a voice 
rang out : — 

“ Who ’s there ? ” 

At the sound Marjorie rushed impetuously 
forward, shouting: — 

“ It ’s papa — papa ! ” 


276 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


She believed that she had recognized the long- 
unheard voice, and was not to be restrained. 

The behavior of the owner of the voice 
seemed to prove the correctness of her impres- 
sion, for he immediately jumped from his 
horse, and as she dashed up to him caught her 
in his arms. 

As for the rest of her party, they had 
remained dumb and motionless in their uncer- 
tainty as to whether this was a^ private expedi- 
tion or whether the government of Avaril had 
a part in it. 

The former supposition was the correct one, 
and after a parley between the two parties the 
guides rode on to find such materials as were 
necessary to repair the carriage. 

Immediately they had gone Marjorie burst 
out : — 

“ Papa, we have got the duke.” 

It was no doubt an awkward moment for 
that nobleman, knowing that the other could 
be but ill pleased. Both being gentlemen, 
however, nothing unpleasant then occurred. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


277 


The rest of the journey was made without 
mishap, and by morning they were out of the 
reach of the government of Avaril. 

However the peace was made between Mr. 
Westbrook and Duke Otto the present writer 
has never been told. It must have been 
effected before they left the little French 
frontier town where they rested a day or two, 
for they travelled to Paris in the same railway 
carriage, — a very harmonious and merry 
party. 

And of all the pleasant journeys she could 
remember Marjorie thought this quite the 
pleasantest. It was such a joy to her to be 
again in the company of that dearest and jolli- 
est of chums, — her father. Nor was ever he, 
or Marjorie either, in higher spirits. The 
duke would have them go through all those 
farcical performances of which he had been a 
silent spectator on their journey to Avaril, and 
Marjorie must sing each song she sang then, 
and go through all her absurd repertoire. As 
for Aunt Belinda, she was so happy that she 


278 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


quite forgot her anxiety lest Marjorie should 
become conceited, and even applauded, as did 
Mis’ Pond, who was also in the best spirits, be- 
ing, oh, so glad to return to the “ land of the 
free,” or more especially to that section of it 
that she called home, where people got up at 
six in the morning and went to bed at nine in 
the evening ; where one “ had dinner at noon ” 
instead of “ dining at night,” and where one’s 
experiences were altogether of a less agitating 
character. 

The duke made himself wonderfully agree- 
able to everybody, and his wit shortened the 
long journey into a mere pleasure trip. He in- 
sisted always upon speaking English, his con- 
struction and pronunciation of which were so 
extraordinary as to be the cause of much mer- 
riment. His praises of everything American, 
however, were sometimes quite embarrassing. 

“ Ah,” he would often say, “ the accident 
of birth does not determine who shall hold 
the reins of government in your country. 
What an absurdity that is ! On the contrary, 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


279 


they are placed in the hands of him who 
is fittest to receive them. What is it, mon- 
sieur ? Ah, well, at least that is the ideal. If 
Avaril were a republic she would not be forced 
to choose between the child Margaretta and a 
man who is born a Bohemian, with no capa- 
bilities for the duties of a sovereign, and one, 
moreover, who has no affection for the country 
that he would govern. Alas, mademoiselle,” 
he would go on, always turning at this point 
to Belinda, from whose decisive and emphatic 
assertions he seemed to derive much comfort, 
“ can it be the duty of such a man to accept 
this high trust ? ” 

A grave question the charming Belinda al- 
ways answered in the negative, off-hand. 

At every stopping place he left the train to 
return with an armful of magazines, books, 
candy, fruit, flowers and trinkets of such kinds 
as he thought might please the fancy of his 
travelling companions. But far more winning 
was the fine courtesy, the deference, the tact, 
with which he strove to atone for the injury he 


28 o 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


had done them. They would have been far more 
resentful and ill-tempered persons than these 
with whom our story is concerned who would 
have held on to a grudge in the face of such 
conduct. 

In truth, the grievance was entirely forgiven, 
and would have been forgotten also had not 
the offender constantly reminded them of it by 
suddenly looking up every now and then in a 
droll, child-like way to enquire, with shame- 
faced curiosity, if they had yet forgotten it. 

It was now impossible for any one of the West- 
brook party to believe the ill reports circulated 
against this young nobleman, and all but one 
of them warmly espoused his cause, although 
he himself was so lukewarm. 

Marjorie, however, had not forgotten Mar- 
garetta, that little rosebud queen, whose blight 
lay in the duke’s success, and in whose love of 
her people lay, as it seemed, her greatest claim 
to the crown of Avaril, for as father, mother, 
sister and brother were “ the people ” to Mar- 
garetta. The oath she had taken bound her 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


281 


no more than the unwritten law of her nature, 
which she had inherited from a long line of 
self-devoted kings. It was this in Margaretta, 
were it by “ accident of birth ” or otherwise, 
that made her right seem greater than that of 
Duke Otto. 

Strangely enough, as they travelled farther 
and farther from Avaril, Marjorie thought 
more and more about Margaretta and her 
strange experiences in Marll. Again she 
seemed to see herself in that ugly room in the 
police station, with the grizzly man snapping 
his fingers and tiptoeing before her. Again 
she saw herself standing with the queen’s or- 
phans by the cathedral door while Margaretta 
was led thither to be crowned. How touching 
had she seemed as she looked with that sweet, 
baby-maternal smile upon the crowds of peo- 
ple who were to crown her as their sovereign 
that day. Then she thought of their meeting 
in the court garden, and of all that wonderful 
time when she had lived at the palace, the 
friend and playmate of a queen. And so at 


282 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


last she fell to thinking of the prophecies of 
the gipsy: “Troubles and clouds” for dear, 
loving little Margaretta, and sunshine and hap- 
piness for herself. How selfish of her to enjoy 
the sunshine while Margaretta was left to 
droop in the shade! And she fell to wonder- 
ing if the Ottoists would ever succeed in 
seizing Margaretta and making Duke Otto 
King of Avaril in her stead. 

And now Marjorie’s eyes turned to that 
unconscious gentleman with such entreaty in 
them that had he not been so occupied with 
Miss Belinda, in tracing on a map a certain 
journey he had once taken, or that he wished 
to take, he certainly would have been moved 
to enquire what she would have of him. 

At all events, he looked so kind, so hand- 
some, so princely, that all at once there flashed 
into Marjorie’s mind a way to settle their 
rival claims, a way so wise, so easy and so 
lovely that she was lost in astonishment that it 
had never been thought of by all the wise- 
heads that surrounded Margaretta. A way as 


A CHILD OF GLEE 283 

old as the hills and twice as natural. To be 
sure, Duke Otto was fifteen years or more older 
than Margaretta, but she had seen him when he 
seemed a very young person, and Margaretta 
had sometimes seemed to Marjorie as quite the 
oldest person she had ever known. Besides, 
she had not read history for nothing and she 
knew that disparity in age had not often 
proved an obstacle to royal marriages. 

“Now then,” said Marjorie to herself, “if I 
can only bring this about I shall serve both a 
good turn. Ah me, what a pity it is that the 
duke takes everything I say as a joke ! ” 


CHAPTER XXV 


HE Westbrooks were to sail from Havre, 



1 and Marjorie supposed that the duke 
would take leave of them in Paris. It was ac- 
cordingly necessary that she should make such 
suggestions as she had in her mind as soon as 
possible. Although this seemed a very simple 
matter, in reality it proved to be difficult, for 
she could not broach such a delicate subject 
before so many persons, and a tete-a-tete was 
hard to manage in the close quarters of the rail- 
way carriage. At last, however, an opportunity 
presented itself. Her father and Mis’ Pond 
were reading. Aunt Belinda was peacefully 
asleep, and of his own accord the duke took a 
place beside her, plainly with the intention of 
giving her his attention. 

“ Dear me, this is an honor,” cried Marjorie, 
very sarcastically, for she had been much tried 
all day. “ I should be overcome if I did n’t know 


A CHILD OF GLEE 285 

how it happens.” She nodded toward the 
sleeping figure of her aunt. “ I do n’t wonder 
you blush, for when she is awake you won’t 
look at me any sooner than you would at a 
dog.” 

“ Oh, I ’m frequently looking at you,” pro- 
tested the other, “ and always to find you in a 
brown study. Yes; and then I turn my eyes 
away, for I know that I have no chance against 
some interesting historical acquaintance with 
whom you are doubtless occupied.” 

Marjorie’s lips took on a fine, disdainful curl, 
and she was about to make some bitter retort, 
no doubt, but suddenly changed her mind. 

“ Ah, yes,” she said, slowly nodding her head 
in assent ; “ I have been occupied with histori- 
cal personages (in the plural though, monsieur, 
always in the plural), historical pairs, I might 
say, like Ferdinand and Isabella, or William 
and Mary.” 

“ Matrimony then, perhaps, has been the sub- 
ject of mademoiselle’s meditations. Oh, now I 
should be so pleased to hear your opinions on 
that interesting topic.” 


286 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


“Would you really?'' said Marjorie, quite 
charmed at this turn in the conversation which 
seemed to lead directly to the point whither 
she would fain go. “Very well, I ’ll tell you. 
I think,” she said, lowering her voice, “ I think 
to marry becomes a man’s bounden duty, no 
matter how disagreeable, the minute he is — 
er — twenty-eight years old.” 

“That ’s exactly my opinion. What a coin- 
cidence ! Only I should say \^N^n\y-seven years 
old. I ’m not twenty-eight yet. You made a 
mistake in counting up from the figures I gave 
the other day. I ’m \,-sN^rs\y-seven, and that ’s 
the time, is it, that it becomes a man’s bounden 
duty to marry? Now, what I want to know 
is, at what age it becomes (no matter how 
disagreeable) a woman's bounden duty to 
marry ? ” 

“Well, no matter about that. It’s not 
polite to talk about a lady’s age,” murmured 
Marjorie, being taken by surprise. 

The duke went on, however, as if he had 
not heard her : “ I suppose somewhere about 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


287 


twelve years and five days, is it not ? ” but 
when, instead of the expected protest, Marjorie, 
whose mind was of course upon Margaretta, at 
once assented, he burst out in a fit of laughter. 
Whereupon the readers laid down their books 
and the sleeper awoke, and all insisted upon 
hearing the joke. 

“ I dislike to hear a child talk like that,” 
said Aunt Belinda, when the duke had repeated 
Marjorie’s remarks. “ I wish you would n’t 
encourage her in it.” 

Marjorie turned a pink ear to the company, 
and teary eyes to the landscape. If she cried 
a bit it was partly because they thought her so 
silly, and partly with vexation at losing this op- 
portunity of speaking privately to the duke. 

Yet it proved that at the conclusion of their 
journey there might be other opportunities, for, 
instead of going his own way at Paris, the 
duke went with them to their hotel, declaring 
that he should remain until they started for 
Havre. 

At this hotel. Miss Belinda and Marjorie 


288 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


occupied the same room, sleeping in two little 
beds, side by side. Neither liked this arrange- 
ment, for Miss Belinda liked to sleep late, and 
Marjorie, who woke at an early hour, liked 
to get up. Then she would rustle about with 
little scratching, snapping noises, like a canary 
in its cage, which her aunt said was more dis- 
turbing than a brass band. 

The first morning after their arrival in Paris, 
Marjorie woke even earlier than usual. She 
began to think at once of the task she had 
set herself. She had now determined not to 
approach the duke, who was always so dis- 
couragingly sportive, but to proceed in a differ- 
ent way. 

“Aunt Belinda!” she said, in a loud whisper, 
leaning toward the other little bed, whereon 
lay her aunt. 

After a moment’s incredulous silence, in a 
louder voice she asked : — 

“ Aunt Belinda, are you really asleep ? ” 

Miss Belinda’s eyes had been closed, her 
breast moving with the gentle regularity of 
slumber. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


289 


“Yes; I am really asleep,” she answered, 
without opening her eyes, “and if you know 
what is good for yourself, you won’t wake me. 
You had better go to sleep, too.” 

“Oh, I can't sleep,” cried Marjorie, in a 
tone of real distress. “ I ’m too worked up, 
but I won’t wake you.” 

To show that she was sincere in this prom- 
ise she lay down again, but it was with such a 
sigh as quite spoiled the comfort of her aunt, 
who presently enquired : — 

“ What are you worked up about, Marjo- 
rie ? ” 

“ Oh, about Margaretta,” answered Marjorie, 
promptly. “You have no idea how I love her 
and pity her, poor little queen.” 

“ It ’s not because I ’ve not been told,” ob- 
served Miss Belinda, dryly. 

“And how can I help worrying about her 
with all the wicked plots there are to drive 
her off her throne ? I ’m dreadfully fond of 
Duke Otto, too, and it makes me sick to think 
of their being such enemies, and so I have 


290 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


thought up a way to put an end to all the 
trouble. But you see the duke never listens 
to me with any respect ; there is no use in my 
proposing it to him.” 

I have sometimes thought that he does not 
respect you as he should so wise a person,” 
said Aunt Belinda, in a sympathizing tone. 

“Well, he respects you all right,” cried Mar- 
jorie, reddening with a sense of being laughed 
at. “ He listens to whatever you say, whether 
wise or not, and I thought if you were to ex- 
plain my plan to him, and tell him you approve 
of it, you know, we might straighten things 
out.” 

“ And what is this wonderful plan of yours? ” 

“ Why, you see. Aunt Belinda, if the duke 
and Margaretta should marry they could both 
reign. 'Otto and Margaretta !' It would sound 
very well, wouldn’t it? It would unite the 
interests of Avaril and Cohentz, and both par- 
ties ought to be pleased.” 

In her eagerness, Marjorie had sat up in 
bed, and her rumpled head was nodding like a 
mandarin’s. 


A CHILD OF GLEE 2gl 

Now Aunt Belinda rose in hers, and for a 
moment sat pensively hugging her knees. 

“ Ah,” thought Marjorie, “ she is thinking it 
over. I must have made a good impression.” 

Presently Miss Belinda’s face grew pink, 
and she said, turning her bright eyes upon 
Marjorie : — 

“ My dear, unfortunately for your plan, the 
duke can ’t marry Margaretta, because he is 
going to marry me” 

For a moment Marjorie was dumbfounded ; 
then she said sternly : — 

“You have always said that you don’t /z^e 
the aristocracy, and here you are going to 
marry a man of roj/a/ blood.” Then she tear- 
fully added, “ Now, of course, Duke Otto will 
get Margaretta’s throne, for you always get 
what you set out for.” 

“ But suppose I have n’t set out for Marga- 
retta’s throne. Suppose Otto and I prefer to 
be humble citizens who can go to the North 
Pole at a moment’s notice if we like. Sup- 
pose that I am just marrying him, Marjorie 


2^2 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


dear, to take him out of the Queen of Avaril’s 
way ? ” 

Marjorie, who had buried her head in the 
pillows with her last word, now bounded up 
again, jumped across to her aunt’s bed and 
almost smothered her with kisses. 

“ Oh ! ” she exclaimed, releasing her at last 
but snuggling up beside her and looking up 
into her face, “what a glorious idea it was. 
How did you ever happen to think of it } ” 

Miss Belinda laughed. “ Well, to tell the 
truth, although I like to pose as a diplomat, it 
was really Otto who first thought of it.” 

Marjorie was silent for a moment, but she 
evidently did not give the credit of this brill- 
iant thought to the duke, for presently, looking 
at her aunt with her head very much on one 
side, which is said to be an attitude of admira- 
tion, she burst out : — 

“You clever, clever creature! You always 
make people do just what you wish, don’t 
you ? However do you manage to do it } 
But, Aunt Belinda, I do hope you will take 


A CHILD OF Clef 


293 


him home at once, for if you leave him here, 
I’m afraid that scheming Von Orfmann will 
get hold of him again.” 

Aunt Belinda assured her that she would 
take no such risk. 

So it befell that in a few weeks from this 
date, when the steamer Gascoigne sailed from 
Havre, the names of the Duke and Duchess of 
Cohentz, with that of the Westbrooks and Mis’ 
Pond, were on the list of passengers. 

It may as well be stated here that this mar- 
riage, which was looked upon by some of Miss 
Belinda’s friends with nothing short of horror, 
and was the occasion of many dismal prophe- 
cies, turned out to be an unusually happy one. 
Belinda made the duke what Marjorie called a 
very kind and indulgent wife. If that charm- 
ing lady really managed her husband as she 
had every one else, she never let him know it, 
for he always believed that Belinda was of all 
women the most gracious and lovely. They 
spent a good deal of their time in travel, but 
for many years they avoided Avaril and 
Cohentz. 


294 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


Before leaving Paris, Marjorie wrote the 
following letter : — 

“ My dear Madame, 

“ I cannot leave this part of the world without 
a word to you thanking you for the kindness 
you showed me when ‘afflictions sore long 
time I bore ’ at the royal palace at Marll. 

“ I suppose you know how I was captured 
and carried off on that journey I took with 
the countess in the queen’s coach, for I have 
been told that an account of it was in all 
the newspapers in Marll. Who would have 
thought that your humble correspondent would 
ever figure so prominently in foreign politics ? 
I hope the countess got home safely to the 
palace. When last I saw her the blood of 
the Barnstetters was boiling dreadfully. 

“And now, dear Madame, after all that has 
passed, what do you think of the gipsy queen ? 
Have not the clouds passed for both Queen 
Margaretta, who now sits upon the throne as 
securely and comfortably as one can sit on 
such a precious uncomfortable seat, and for 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


295 


me, also, who am the happiest girl in the 
whole world? Aunt Belinda declares that it 
is quite impossible that a gipsy or any other 
can foresee the future, but, as for me, I believe 
in many impossible things ; which is to say 
that I am a weak, superstitious creature. 

“ Please give my love and duty to the great 
Boom Boom, and point out to him the fact 
that he never could have firmly established 
Margaretta on her throne if I had not come 
from Biddeford to help him. 

“ This is what you call badinage, 

“ My papa bids me express for him his deep 
gratitude to you, dear Madame, for the kind- 
ness you have shown his daughter. We hope 
that some time you will pay a visit to our 
'‘bon oncle Sam^ in which case papa offers 
you the hospitality of Westbrook Farm. , If you 
will come we shall do all we can to make 
you happy. Uncle Otto shall devote himself 
to make you laugh, which is what you like 
best, and is also what he is best accomplished 
in. Aunt Belinda will introduce you to the 


296 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


elite of Biddeford, where, as Mis' Pond often 
says, there is as good society as you can find 
anywhere in the world, — but I forget that you 
do not know Mis’ Pond. 

“ I enclose a letter which I have written to 
that sweet Margaretta, very sacred Majesty 
and Queen of Avaril, which, dear Madame, I 
leave to your wisdom and goodness to dispose 
of. If you should think proper to give it to 
the queen, it will make me very happy. 

“ And so, with much love and gratitude, 

“ I remain always your friend, 

“ Marjorie.” 

On a certain farm in Maine a company of 
persons were assembled for a festival. All 
the lovely July afternoon pretty young girls 
in white or faint-hued gowns fluttered over 
the greensward. The deep blue of the sky 
was untroubled by a cloud on Marjorie’s eigh- 
teenth birthday, and the midsummer sun was 
tempered by a fresh breeze that made tennis 
and golf enjoyable. Later, dancing was in 
order, and reels and cotillons in apparently 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


297 


endless succession were merrily danced to the 
music of an old-fashioned fiddler, who had 
called off the same figures for the mothers 
and grandmothers of the dancers. 

At last when the sun had set and the golden 
green of the grass gave way to the growing 
dusk, two by two, or in little groups, the com- 
pany disappeared within a large tent, hung 
with garlands and bright with colored lan- 
terns. 

On a table which stood in the middle of the 
tent was a vast birthday cake, around which 
were arranged thirty-six candles, eighteen of 
them red and as many of white. On either 
side of it was a huge mould of ice-cream, 
one in the form of the dragon of Avaril and the 
other in that of the noble bird which is our own 
national device. The dragon, it must be con- 
fessed, had a somewhat crestfallen and home- 
sick air, while the eagle expressed by its stately 
attitude, and, in truth, by every detail, the con- 
viction of Mis’ Pond, its creator, that America 
is the finest country in the world. 


298 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


These masterpieces of the confectioner’s art 
occasioned so much laughter and such a buzz- 
ing of tongues that for a moment the cere- 
monies were delayed, but as it subsided a dis- 
tinguished looking gentleman in the company 
took from beside his plate a wineglass filled 
with a home-brewed wine for which West- 
brook Farm was famous, and looked smilingly 
up and down the table. 

This was the renowned Professor Rolsdorf, 
to give our friend Duke Otto the title which 
had been conferred upon him in recognition of 
valuable geographical discoveries that he had 
made, and his family name, by which he liked 
best to be known. 

He had the air of a man who has found his 
true place in the world, and the eyes that 
looked around that merry company were full of 
the pride of life and happiness. 

“ Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “ let us 
drink to Margaretta, the good and beautiful 
Queen of Avaril. May her reign be ever pros- 
perous, and may she long retain the enthusias- 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


299 


tic love she has so deservedly won in the 
hearts of her subjects. God bless Queen Mar- 
garetta ! ” 

As soon as the toast was drunk, a gentle- 
man on the opposite side of the table, having 
refilled his glass, jumped up and said, in 
turn : — 

“ Ladies and gentlemen, let us drink to her 
whose birthday we celebrate, — she is en- 
tering to-day what is called a woman’s king- 
dom. May her reign, also, be prosperous and 
happy ! Ladies and gentlemen, let us say 
again, God bless the Queen ! ” — and this toast 
was drunk with a heartiness that left no doubt 
as to the popularity of her in whose honor it 
had been proposed. 

The people of Biddeford had never quite de- 
cided whether those toasts, which were drunk 
at Westbrook Farm at every anniversary of 
Marjorie’s birth, were to be taken seriously or 
not. The story of Marjorie’s adventures in 
Avaril were considered by many persons, “ just 
Westbrook nonsense,” while others main- 


300 


A CHILD OF GLEE 


tained that the presence of the Duke of Co- 
hentz periodically among them proved them to 
be facts of actual occurrence. 

On this particular birthday the latter belief 
seemed to be corroborated by a gift that day 
received by Marjorie, declared to have been 
sent to her by the Queen of Avaril. This was 
a necklace of pearls somewhat too costly to 
have been the gift of any of her other friends. 

“ Dear Margaretta,’' Marjorie murmured 
more than once that day, as with her finger- 
tips she touched the necklace, “ I hope she is 
as happy as I am.” 

As to this, no one has reason to think other- 
wise, for, according to report, there is no sover- 
eign in Europe so independent, and at the 
same time so beloved, as Margaretta of 
Avaril. 


A FLOWER 

OF THE WILDERNESS 

BY A. G. PLYMPTON 

Author Dear Daughter Dorothy^''* Dorothy 
afid Anton^^' etc. 



Illustrations by the author. i 2 mo» Cloth., extra. $1.25 


A charming story of Massachusetts in the old Colonial days. The 
author has embodied in the story much valuable information for yoxmg 
people regarding the fauna and flora of New England. 




FAVORITE STORIES 
BY MISS A. G. PLYMPTON. 

Author of '■'■Dear Daughter Dorothy." 

The winsome little maid (“ Dear Daughter Dorothy ”), with her loyalty 
and love, attracts our hearts as Little Lord Fauntleroy has done, and 
reveals the divine element in childhood. Reading the story, we caught- 
ourselves falling in love with the lovely child, who was withal a creature 
not too wise or good for human nature’s daily food. — Christian Union. 



DEAR DAUGHTER DORO- 
THY. 

DOROTHY AND ANTON. 
BETTY, A BUTTERFLY. 


THE LITTLE SISTER OF 
WILIFRED. 

ROBIN’S RECRUIT. 
PENELOPE PRIG. 


Small dfto. Cloth. Illustrated by the author. Each ^i.oo. 
Six volumes, uniform, in box, $6.00. 

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With illustrations by the author. $1.25. 

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With illustrations by the author. $1.25. 


RAGS AND VELVET GOWNS. i2mo. Cloth. Illustrated by the 
author. 50 cents. 

A FLOWER OF THE WILDERNESS. Small 4to. Cloth. Illus- 
trated by the author. $1.25. 

A CHILD OF GLEE. Small 4to. Cloth. Illustrated. $1.50. 


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